IT Minister Expects 100,000 Broadband Service Centers within 8 months?

Indiantelevision reports Communication and Information Technology minister A Raja is eyeing about 100,000 Broadband-enabled service centers to be set up in the country by March 2008 at a total cost of Rs 540 billion Rs. 54 billion. Indiantelevision wrongly reported the number as Rs. 540 billion and one of readers points to a Hindu article, which has the right figure.
Now, that quite an ambitious plan for someone who is still mulling over 3G policy after being two and a half months into the job. The center is expected to offer e-governance services through these centers and is planning to cough up Rs. 160 billion Rs. 16 billion or 30 percent of the cost with the rest coming from the private sector. I just think that the minister is trying to bite off more than he can chew. Would also like to point out the WSJ piece that I wrote up yesterday [see related links] that talks about how merely providing technology to rural masses is not going to solve all problems. Raja should focus on reassessing such centers once they are set up and tweak the plan to make sure that taxpayers’ money isn’t being wasted. Rs. 540 billion is a huge budget and I just wish that the government tested out a couple of such centers before pouring in so much money.