The UPA Government was committed to ensuring that every single panchayat in the country had access to broadband service by 2012, Union Minister Sachin Pilot said today.

"Internet penetration in India today was eight per cent.

Once every single panchayat has access to broadband, the government's functioning will change dramatically," he told reporters here.

In terms of telecommunication, the mobile revolution had truly changed the way India was being connected today, he said, adding "In the month of March, we have added two crore new mobile connections in India."

Tele-density in big cities like Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai was in the range of 120 and 140 percent, while in rural India it was still 23 and 24 percent, he said.

He said there was wide gap between tele-density in rural and urban areas. To bridge this gap, BSNL and Government PSUs were leaving no stone unturned to install infrastructure and mobile towers in the North East, in Kashmir valley, in tribal areas, in Naxal affected and in border areas, so that these people were made a part of the information and communication revolution, he said.

Referring to Kerala, he said 1,268 mobile towers would be added in the current financial year and for Ernakulam district alone there would be 167 new mobile towers.

"BSNL has already provided the 3G service and currently there are 53,000 3G connections in the state.The idea was to reach out to small towns and villages because private operators sometimes hesitate in going to non-profitable areas," he added.

The Congress leader who was here in connection with the Youth Congress membership drive. He said youth Congress organisational elections were conducted successfully in Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Uttarakhand, adding in Tamil Nadu, about 15 lakh people had enrolled as members