112,000 broadband centres would be set up in rural areas across the country, within a year. The government Saturday announced a $2-billion 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 here, 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 ministry of communication & IT is also expected to unfold its third generation of mobile phone standards and technology – 3G service – guidelines by June this year. The 3G services are expected to be rolled out by the end of current year. The aim of the these policies is to provide wireless telephone and mobile telephone to every household in rural India by 2010, said the minister.