WiMAX – Movin' Ahead

Broadband access in Africa is less than 1%. In Africa or even Brazil, where mobile phones are more common, maybe WiMAX and better content to phones could get the Internet to spread more widely, more quickly.

Here is a video story about the upcoming Connect Africa Summit, where Intel Chairman Craig Barrett his World Ahead posse will meeting with government and community leaders in Rowanda, Nigeria and Morocco.

This is a video by Jason Lopez, who will be traveling to a few of the stops to report on results. If you’re in Facebook — who isn’t?!! — follow the trip by joining the World Ahead Group.

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BusinessWeek strory online today but dated September 3 leads with an anecdote about Intel exec Sean Maloney and his Andy Grove-inspired revelation that Intel could help speed the spread broadband by using wireless. Sean embodies Intel’s innovative spirit and vision for bringing to life the benefits of Moore’s Law — benefits are better computing performance at lower prices over time.From the title down through the first few paragraphs, this is a fun ride…great writing here from BusinessWeek.

clipped from www.businessweek.com

Intel’s role as head WiMAX cheerleader makes sense. WiMAX is similar to Wi-Fi, which was embedded in Intel’s Centrino line of chips, but it offers dramatic improvements. Wi-Fi extends traditional wire-based broadband networks for just a few hundred feet, and Internet access speeds slow to a crawl when lots of people are online in the same area. Meanwhile, high-profile schemes for blanketing whole cities with cheap or free Wi-Fi networks aren’t working out.