Ericsson and IGNOU partner for 3G mobile education services

Students of IGNOU can now look forward to downloading their study course contents and get SMS alerts through mobiles. India's largest university will ink a pact with telecom major Ericsson on Thursday to provide facilities supported by 3G Mobile services in Open and Distance education. Under the programme, mobile service provider Ericsson, which has a network practically covering the entire north-east, will help in students access parts of the course web pages, download files like assignments and video clips. The 3G technology helps a learner stream through video, audio and selective Internet browsing. New notebooks with built-in 3G chip sets advanced e-learning services, which will allow consulting with academic counsellors, course co-ordinators, peer-to peer discussions etc., Srivasthan said. The total investment in rolling out the project will be worked out on the basis of the pilot project. Ericsson India Chief, Achaibar, said the roll out process (after the pilot project) is relatively easy in India as it has established network providers (BSNL, MTNL), a large per cent of mobile users besides technology.