Intel has created a wireless, high-speed Internet network for residents of Parintins, a town on an island in the Amazon River, one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth.

The digital transformation of Parintins is expected to improve the healthcare and education of its 114,000 residents and advance the lives of future generations. They will be able to access vast resources of medical, educational and commercial knowledge through computers.

The project is part of the Intel World Ahead Program, an initiative in which Intel plans to invest more than $US 1 billion globally over the next 5 years to accelerate access to computers, the Internet and technology for people in developing communities.

Working with the Brazilian government and business and education officials, Intel and its collaborators installed a WiMAX network for a primary healthcare center, two public schools, a community center and Amazon University. Intel also donated and installed telemedicine equipment at the health center and computer labs at the two schools where students and teachers can regularly connect to the outside world for the first time.

The wireless infrastructure includes short-range Wi-Fi radio transmissions and WiMAX, which has an extended transmitting range of up to 30 miles. WiMAX is designed to be a less costly and more efficient way to build wireless computing and communications networks for broadband access.

“We’ve been blessed with this project,” said Parintins Mayor Frank Bi Garcia. “We’re really isolated and don’t have the conditions to receive the Internet with cables. So we’re receiving it wireless, from antennas, from satellites – access to wireless Internet is a great pleasure for us. This project will prepare this generation for the future.”

Intel has the support of Cisco, CPqD, Embratel, Proxim and the Bradesco Foundation, as well as Amazonas State University, Amazonas Federal University and Săo Paulo University.

Intel aims to extend wireless PC access to millions of citizens in Latin America and train more than a million teachers about the effective use of technology in the classroom. In Parintins, Intel has already trained 24 teachers through its education initiatives. The Intel Teach Program teaches teachers how to use technology to improve the way students learn. The Intel Learn Program provides job-readiness skills to underprivileged students between the ages of 10 and 18.

As part of Parintins’ digital makeover, Amazon University is starting a telemedicine program developed jointly with the medical school of Sao Paulo University. The new capabilities – including real-time, video interaction between specialists and patients hundreds of miles apart – give the town’s 32 doctors faster and greater access to the latest medical data or second opinions. Doctors say telemedicine will also help in preventing the spread of such diseases as AIDS and leprosy.