Singapore Testing Wi-Fi at Railway Stations:

Singapore's public transport authority has announced plans to deploy Wi-Fi hotspots at 28 of its main railway stations across the country.

The LTA said thatt the introduction of Wireless@SG at the platforms of all North East Line stations and 12 other stations with high commuter usage is aimed at enhancing wireless connectivity for commuters while they wait for the trains.

Wireless@SG is a wireless broadband initiative by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) that aims to extend broadband access beyond homes, schools and offices to public places. Users can enjoy free and seamless wireless broadband access with speeds of up to 2 Mbps.

Tenders for the implementation of the trial have just been issued, and the service will be progressively available from mid-2014. It said that the trial will run for two years before any decision is taken to expand the service.

Ericsson Launched 3G and Connect To Learn in Ethiopian Village:

Ericsson had provided the network infrastructure and services to bring voice and data communications to the Millennium Village Project (MVP) in Koraro located in a remote part of northern Ethiopia.

With access to 3G connectivity more than 4,000 students and their teachers at two schools involved in the Connect To Learn initiative will now have access to modern learning and teaching resources through Ericsson's cloud-computing solution. In addition, community health workers in the Millennium Villages will be using mobile phones provided by Sony Mobile and broadband access provided by Ericsson to deliver health care services directly to households to collect health information for improved monitoring.

In Koraro, community health workers use the Open MRS (medical record system) and a smartphone-based health-data management system to collect information and report on malaria and other diseases, the number of births, and the incidence of malnutrition and the health status of pregnant women during household visits. Many of these residents would otherwise have little or no access to the most fundamental aspects of health care services.

In all, Ericsson has provided connectivity to Millennium Villages in 11 countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania Uganda and Liberia.