All villages to be broadband-enabled by 2012

September 23rd, 2009 Rural, urban areas of Ohio seek broadband cashCOLUMBUS, Ohio — State broadband planners say Ohio's unique mix of rural, Appalachian and poor urban communities gives it a strong chance of securing federal stimulus dollars to pay for better Internet access. In the first round of bidding for $7.2 billion in grants, loans and loan guarantees, both in-state and out-of-state groups asked for millions to help underserved populations in the state get connected.

September 12th, 2009 CHENNAI - The government has decided to provide broadband connectivity to 5,000 schools and 20,000 colleges in rural and semi-urban areas to promote e-learning, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said here Saturday. "We are holding discussions with the finance ministry to work out the modalities and the funding required for this project," Pilot told reporters on the sidelines of an IT conference, jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Tamil Nadu government.

August 24th, 2009 In race with cable, AT&T pushes discounted bundleNEW YORK — AT&T Inc. has started offering its first bundle discount for customers who combine its U-Verse TV service with wireless and broadband.

July 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's fixed-line telephone market will grow by 22 percent to reach Rs.5,500 crore (Rs.55 billion/$1.1 billion) by 2013, says a report by IT research and advisory firm Gartner. "The Indian fixed-line market will see growth from broadband and Internet access sectors, which will together grow at the rate of 22 percent to reach Rs.55 billion by 2013," the report released here Monday said.

July 1st, 2009 Biden announces rural broadband funding in Pa.WATTSBURG, Pa. — Vice President Joe Biden outlined a $4.7 billion loan and grant program Wednesday to develop the infrastructure needed to deliver broadband, or high-speed, Internet access to areas that are underserved or without access.

June 22nd, 2009 GANGTOK - Union Minister of State for Information Technology Sachin Pilot Monday said Sikkim has potential to emerge as an IT and BPO hub and assured that all 450 villages in the state will have telephone and broadband connectivity soon. "The exchanges in all the villages of the state's 26 blocks will be brought under the telecom and broadband network soon," Pilot told IANS here.

June 17th, 2009 Survey: The old and poor sign up for broadbandNEW YORK — Some groups that have lagged in signing up for high-speed Internet service, like the elderly, the poor and rural residents, have started to gain on those who have had a head start, according to a new survey. Those conclusions come as the government is set to decide how to spend $7.2 billion in stimulus money on expanding the availability of broadband.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Tata Teleservices has teamed up with ECI Telecom, an Israel-based networking infrastructure solutions provider, to offer India's fastest broadband access network till date, the Indian telecom operator said Wednesday. In a statement, Tata Teleservices said ECI's network solution would support a connectivity speed of up to 18 megabit per second (Mbps), a unit to measure broadband speed.

June 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government plans to connect every panchayat to a broadband network in the next three years and expects to reach 40 percent rural tele-density in the next five years. The initiative is part of its ambitious target to drastically improve infrastructure in the villages under its Bharat Nirman (Build India) programme.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today said that the government has set a target of providing electricity to 1,18,000 villages in the country under Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojna by 2012. Assuming his charge on Monday, he said that more than 61,000 villages already been have been electrified under this scheme.

May 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - UTStarcom, a US-based network solutions provider, Tuesday said it will support state-run telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to roll out IPTV (Internet protocol television) services. UTStarcom's existing contract with the Indian firm has been extended for this purpose, the company said in a statement.

April 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharti Airtel Monday launched 16 Mbps broadband, the fastest wireline broadband on digital subscriber loop(DSL) in the country, in select cities. 'We will be able to offer 16 Mbps broadband to 70 percent of the households in Delhi and NCR (national capital region), Chennai and Bangalore,' Airtel Telemedia Services joint president K.

April 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharti Airtel has pioneered 16 Mbps broadband - the fastest wireline broadband on DSL in the country. This service, powered by Airtel's Carrier Ethernet Network, will be initially available in the cities of Delhi NCR, Chennai and Bangalore with phased roll-out to additional cities of Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata.

February 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - State-run telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), in association with US-based WiMax solutions provider SOMA networks, Thursday launched wireless broadband services in Gujarat. A BSNL statement said the wireless broadband initiative would spread the expansion of broadband connections in the country.

February 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Reliance Communications (RCom), the country's only telecom operator offering both CDMA and GSM services, Friday said it has recorded five million subscribers in a span of 30 days on its fully-IP enabled, next generation wireless network. 'We continue to experience acceleration in the growth momentum as we keep launching our GSM services in new geographies and offering a slew of attractive recharge options,' S.P.