Communications and Information and Technology minister A Raja today said the government is committed to connect all panchayats in the country with high speed broadband by 2012. Speaking at a curtain raiser ceremony of India Telecom 2010 in New Delhi, Mr Raja said telecom sector in the county has progressed in the last five years and call rates have reduced due to his initiative. He said tele density has increased from 26 per cent to 57 per cent in the last two years. The minister said the government has now set the target of achieving rural tele density of 40 per cent by 2012. He said due to proactive policies of government, broadband subscribers have now grown to 98 million. Mr Raja expressed hope that wireless broadband is expected to get phenomenal boost with recent concluded successful auction of 3G spectrum.