Ministries roped in for broadband expansion

In an attempt to push broadband connectivity further in the country, the government has decided the service will be offered free of cost to users, who will, however, pay for the equipment (Rs 7,000-8,000) and an annual rental of about Rs 7,500 for a 512 kbps connection.

The beneficiaries would include educational institutions, healthcare network and village panchayats.

An inter-ministerial group has been formed to push for rapid expansion of broadband coverage by roping in various central ministries.

Accordingly, by October 31, four central ministries - health, home, human resource development and panchayati raj -- will indicate their exact requirements and suggest priority areas for giving broadband connectivity. The plans will then be executed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).

The first meeting of the group was held earlier this month, where it was also decided that the universal service obligation (USO) fund administrator will henceforth hold fortnightly meetings to review the progress of the broadband coverage expansion plan.

The USO fund, which has nearly Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion) at its disposal, is meant to fund expansion of telecom coverage in remote areas of the country.

As part of this initiative, nearly 3,000 police stations across the country will be connected. Around 9,000 police stations are already connected to the existing dedicated police network (Polnet).

The other beneficiary of the scheme will be around 1.5 lakh (Rs 150,000) higher secondary and intermediate schools and 12,000 colleges and universities that, at present, do not have broadband connectivity. Around 70 per cent of these institutes are in the rural areas.

The health ministry wants 35,000 primary health centres in the country to be linked in a similar manner. The ministry has already planned a budget of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) for this and is keen on ensuring that centres in rural areas get connected.

The Panchayati Raj ministry is also keen on connecting more than 2 lakh (200,000) panchayats on broadband network.

BSNL has already brought about 600 towns under broadband coverage. it plans to add another 900 towns by the end of the year. The rollout in the remaining areas will be done using new age wireless technologies like Wi-Max. This exercise is expected to be completed within calendar year 2007.