Bringing the Net to India's masses

By John Markoff - The New York Times: "An international consortium, including Indian and U.S. companies as well as the World Bank, plans to establish thousands of rural Internet centers in India to bring government, banking and education services to isolated villages.

The project is intended to bring Internet-based services to individuals who must often travel long distances to conduct banking or business with the government. It is being undertaken by Comat Technologies, an Indian provider of Internet services; ICICI Bank, a leading commercial bank in the country; and Wyse Technology of San Jose, California, which makes computer terminal equipment.

The goal is to serve rural villages with populations of at least 5,000. Ultimately the plan calls for centers or kiosks in 5,000 villages in Karnataka, the state whose capital is Bangalore, the Indian high-technology center. The project, subsidized by the state government, will include money to train residents in computer skills. It comes after some disappointing results of earlier efforts to bridge the divide separating those with Internet connections from less developed areas.

Each center, connected to the Internet by either a land line or a satellite link, will have 5 to 10 simple computerized displays that are more rugged and less expensive than personal computers. John Kish, president and chief executive of Wyse, said before the formal announcement of the project Thursday that the simple network computers to be used in the project have long been held out as a promising low-cost way to deliver Internet content and computer services.

The project will begin with a demonstration in four villages and then be extended to 20 others, said Andi Dervishi, an investment officer at the World Bank. He said the World Bank's International Finance unit would act initially as a nonfinancial partner but was hoping to be able to finance the growth of the project if the early trials go well."