$2bn Public Private Partnership for Rural Internet in India- Why not Free Lunch?

May 26, 2008
By sinha

The Indian govt. has announced a $2bn public private partnership to provide broadband and Internet connectivity in country’s rural areas.

Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, speaking at Global Telecom Summit , said that $1.5 billion for the project would be generated from the private sector and the balance would be funded from government sources.

The minister also announced 112,000 broadband centres would be set up in rural areas across the country, within a year.  The govt. will also have a policy for Wi-Max to improve the broadband connectivity.

And 3G service is on the card as well.

Now may I request you to stop gaping?

2007 was supposed to be the broadband year and we all know the state of broadband penetration as well as WiFi/WiMax penetration in India.

Yes Mr. Scindia, we will have 112K broadband centres and glad that you didn’t announce free beer & lunch at the broadband centers.

Well folks, it’s election time and get ready for such cheap talks!

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5 Responses to “ $2bn Public Private Partnership for Rural Internet in India- Why not Free Lunch? ”

  1. Subbu on May 27, 2008 at 1:29 am

    Lame Idea if you ask me.. It’s better to invest more on Educating the Rural Areas. Oh Well, it _is_ the government. :-\

  2. Manoj on May 27, 2008 at 9:46 am

    Let me tell you one thing: Govt. Dont want to educate rural ppl because if they got educated then its difficult to get VOTES from them and there are less chances of % of voting.

    Govt is not serious about Green Tech, because they want us to FULLY depend on Petrol/Dieseal: BEcause more tax from OIL company.

    Only pvt sector will improve education system. govt will not improve education system.

  3. Prashant on May 27, 2008 at 10:22 am

    political rehetoric aside ..this is a pot of gold . I guess companies like Comat are best positioned to exploit this .

  4. [...] Another bait: $2bn private-public partnership for rural India [...]

  5. Vikas on August 12, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    I think its a great idea. technology will make come true what the Govt couldnt do for 60 years.

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