GigaOM

Bangalore, often viewed as the hub of India’s Silicon Valley, is looking to join a growing list of cities with wireless broadband everywhere, according to news reports.

The Indian Institute of Information Technology in the southern Indian city has been studying the project for the last six months and has short-listed five companies for the project. The service is supposed to be within two years, though no one is offering any details on how it will get done. Karnataka state, of which Bangalore is the capital, would not be bearing any of the cost of the project, a state government official said.

“The companies will have their own revenue model. It (the venture) will be something which will be platform neutral,” Anup K Pujari, Karnataka’s principal secretary, information technology told Indiatimes.com. He said the idea is to provide broadband Internet access for a customer on the move, irrespective of the telecom service provider the customer uses, with the service provider charging for interconnection. “(The) Expectation is that consumer will pay less than what he is paying today (for wired internet broadband access),” Mr. Pujari said.

If this story interests you, check out our upcoming conference:
Mobilize — The Next Generation Mobile Conference