($) Gates on Broadband.

The worlds richest man, Bill Gates, on a recent visit to India , had stressed on the need for an increased broadband penetraton. PCs , for him , were just an element of penetration.
( Bill Gates on Broadband )
Gates does have a point.Lets pick up some statistics...Assuming that out of a population on 1 billion,only 120 million have access to telephone, the vast majority people(I am referring to fellow Indians) do not have a PC.The percentage of netizens having access to a broadband or any kinda net access is thus negligible.
On a sinister thought,why should Gates be bothered about improving quality of broadband connectivity. My idle brain suggests that, Gates and many bureacrats know very well that Internet is a window to the future. There exists a wide range of commercial aspect in the net, be it shopping, online gaming, internet telephony, Internet TV,e-governance(a much abused word in Indian governance). Microsoft has a slew of products targetted at Internet and India is one market which is yet to be untapped. When the second fastest growing economy in the world unfolds itself on the internet, the gains would be manifold.
I beg your pardon , if the passage conveys the impression against broadband connectivity, but, my emphasis is that a broadband connectivity cannot make a big difference to the masses.
Is the window to the net,a must for the common man?
Does staying connected help improve the quality of life of ordinary citizens??
How many households in India own a Simputer lest their own TV/Radio ?
Cost to produce a microprocessor is less than quarter dollar,When will a computer be made affordable to the masses..atleast below $50 ?
We are yet to provide a telephone connection to all rural households. Not all rural villages have access to power and health facilities.GDP grows at the rate of 8%, computerization grows at 13%, but,agriculture ,power and infrastructure sectors grow at an abysmal rate of 2%. Our population grows at a pace of 1.4%(Source) !!!Think about the housing facility to them.There still is a long way to go before both ends meet.
How good are we at adapting to new technology.How good are we at changing our lifestyle? We are not embracing new technologies for the benefit of people yet.
Take the case of the CORDECT( WLL, developed by Prof.Jhunjunwala and his team at IIT,Madras) technology which provides telephony with nearly no additional infrastructure involved.If we had resolved to provide all new connections on WLL, atleast 20% of new connections would not get disrupted by earthquake or floods.One relay station would have served 25 square Kms.
The alternative would be laying underground cables by digging roads( not new to our government agencies) , physical wiring across cross-country and reaching each and every household , not achievable in even our childrens lifetime.Similar is the case for providing health and power facilities.
Quality of life needs to be improved on so many other fronts , that , broadband , i feel is not a necessity now.Mr.Bill, don't count your bills before they multiply!!!