Cisco opens in Myanmar as US tech firms eye fresh territory Networking giant Cisco looks set to be one of the first major Western tech firms to establish a presence in once-isolated Myanmar, after announcing two networking academies designed to train up locals for work in the country’s burgeoning IT sector. The collaborative project with the US Agency for International Development ( …
I love those straight-face quotes:
"Cisco has a long track record of supporting the development of emerging economies through education, and the Cisco Networking Academy program will equip students in Burma with industry relevant skills for the 21st century workforce, as they transform their country and their communities,”
Transform the country and communities, like shit. Opening new opportunities. For the latest - and probably cheapest in the world - outsourcing farm. And then, the tourists, the Golden Arch of Western Culture....Gotta be quick boys, this is gonna be better than that 2nd life virtual world a few years back. There's serious buck to be made in that "emerging market", and where is that place anyway?! Asia?! Oh, I just KNEW IT!
p.s. thanks for the "grooming" subtitle, spot on.
Once again, the US government is demonstrating how venal it can be by promoting totally inappropriate goods to a country that is decades behind in all basic infrastructure.
Why would a huge population, living it very basic housing, and often with no running water or electricity want a damn router for? Sewer pipes, yes.
Much of Burma is in the technological Stone Age. Smartphones? How about telephones?
The Chinese are well ensconced in Burma (Myanmar) and their prices are very reasonable, too.
Go home, Yankee carpetbaggers - and wait about a decade.
As far as phones go: landlines are old hat and concentrating on them can be a major handicap (see what's happening in the UK/USA/EU/AU/NZ with incumbent telcos playing monopolisation games).
Mobiles are a far better way to go if you're starting from scratch, even more so in these days of 4G and MiFi bases.
You might think this stuff is irrelevant, but being able to disseminate information about WHY you need sewers and why you don't build a toilet in close proximity to a well(*) is as important as actually doing it.
(*) Believe it or not, there are regular ads on Burmese TV explaining exactly this kind of issue, along with why simply going outside and shitting in an open field is a bad idea.
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