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Govt actively working on national broadband plan
NEW DELHI: There are 10.34 million broadband subscribers in the country as on 30 September this year, Parliament was told today.
The Government is actively working on formulation of a ‘National Broadband Plan’ and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is holding consultations with stakeholders on the subject.
The National Broadband Plan would address broadband connectivity to all the Villages, including through optical fibre cable, as required. However, no final decision has been taken in the matter so far.
In an effort to increase the penetration of broadband connection in the country, 3G and BWA services in the private sector have been allocated spectrum through auction. This will facilitate proliferation of broadband through mobile handset and wireless technology, Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology Sachin Pilot told Parliament today.
The government is permitting sharing of infrastructure to the service providers and has permitted setting up of 100,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) by the Department of Information Technology this year to provide access of broadband.
The Indian Telegraph Rules have been amended, and stream IV has been added under the title “Provision of broadband connectivity to villages in a phased manner” to bring provisioning of broadband connectivity to the rural areas under the purview of the USOF.
USOF schemes are in place for supporting shared infrastructure for mobile services in rural and remote areas. These towers will also be used to provide broadband connectivity in the newly covered Block/Taluka headquarters.
USOF, through BSNL, has started ‘Rural Wireline Broadband Scheme’ to provide wire-line broadband connectivity to rural and remote areas by leveraging the existing rural exchanges infrastructure and copper wire-line network.
Under this scheme, BSNL will provide 8, 88,832 wire-line Broadband connections to individual users and government Institutions over a period of 5 years by 2014. The estimated subsidy outflow is Rs 15 billion in five years.
As of October 2010, a total of 225,266 broadband connections had been provided and 430 kiosks set up in rural and remote areas.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
