· ANRCTI launches the 168th telecentre
Today, June 5, 2007, the President of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology (ANRCTI), Dan Cristian Georgescu, launched the 168th operational telecentre in Horia village, commune of Axintele, Ialomita county. The event took place in the wider context occasioned by the launch of Intel Corporation of its pilot programme entitled CLASSMATE PC, which is part of the Intel World Ahead global initiative.
By means of this programme, Intel Corporation offered to 2nd and 4th grade pupils from the school of Horia village 20 Classmate PC notebooks with a view to be used in the educational process. The notebooks present educational content in Romanian and are connected to the Internet through the WiMAX network.
This WiMAX network which connects the Classmate PCs to the Internet was implemented in Horia within the telecentres installed therein as part of the national programme for the installation of telecentres in the villages with limited access or without access to communications services, initiated by ANRCTI in 2004. Once with the completion of this programme, inhabitants from over 600 isolated rural localities will have access to telephony and Internet services.
“The telecentres must be the community’s central points where both young and old people should be able to have access to communication and information tools, so necessary in today’s society”, Dan Georgescu, the President of ANRCTI, declared today at the launching of the telecentre in Horia. “So far, we have organised 5 tenders for the installation of telecentres in 331 localities”, the President of ANRCTI added.
The telecentre is a public space equipped with at least two telephones, two computers connected to the Internet, a fax and a UPS device. Thus, the approximately 800 inhabitants of Horia will be able to initiate and receive local, national and international calls, including calls to mobile telephony networks. Moreover, they will be able to call the emergency number – 112 – and have access to Internet and fax.
“Intel has always supported the initiatives in the educational field, strongly believing that technology can provide students with extraordinary learning opportunities. We are currently collaborating with ministries in the field of education from over 30 countries, thus enabling more than 10 million teachers to efficiently integrate information technology within the educational process”, John Davies, Vice-President of Intel Corporation Sales and Marketing Group and General Manager of the Intel World Ahead Programme declared.
The installation of the telecentre in Horia was performed by Orange Romania, following the partnership concluded between ANRCTI, the local administration and the universal service provider.