[by Cerius Shah]

-- Hughes India has inked a deal wtih Comat Technologies to provide 10,000 broadband kiosks. Out of the 10,000 kiosks, 2000 have already been installed. Here is an example in Harayana. The consortium, according to the press release, has won the roll out rights in Sikkim, Tripura and various parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Uttaranchal.

-- BSNL has launched internet with WLL in Jaipur. For a 384 kbps connection, there will be a monthly charge of Rs 550, an activation charge of Rs 550 and an EVDO card charge of Rs 6,500 says this Hindu report. Out of the approximately 56.5 lakh population of Rajasthan, 22 lakh use mobile services and 1.5 lakh use landlines. Doubt a fixed initial cost of Rs 7600 to get connected would help with literacy at 61% further limiting probability

-- India is poised to cross the 300 million mark in 2008, contributing to 3.3 billion worldwide mobile subscriber base, making every tenth mobile user in the world, an Indian. Global mobile penetration will reach 50 percent in 2008 from 12 per cent in 2000, says the International Telecommunications Union, an UN agency, according to this ET report.

-- Laptop sales have clocked a rise of 59 percent in the first half of 2007-2008. Total PC sales grew 11 percent, logging in 3.28 million units in April - September 2007 according to Tech2. The study initiated by MAIT involved interviews with over 24,500 respondents in 22 cities.