Vijay Yadav, MD, UTStarcom India:

“This year''s budget has been positive towards various sections, and it will definitely make the impact towards a better GDP growth. It would have been better if allocations had been made towards broadband infrastructure. The government has made several concessions towards other infrastructure projects and it would have been great if the broadband had been treated as an essential infrastructure segment. The Telecom industry would have given a thumbs-up if the government had set aside investments for funding or subsidy for promoting the broadband industry.

Compared to wireless voice communication the contribution of Broadband penetration to country’s GDP growth has been nearly 3 to 4 times, and every 10% increase in broadband penetration, which enables voice, video and data, leads to 1.2 to 1.4% increase in GDP. This also bridges the digital divide.  According to me, within next three to five years broadband usage should reach a minimum of 100 m subscribers, which would pave the way for overcoming the digital divide and is essential for Indian SME businesses to remain competitive, globally. We would expect the government to consider this and ensure that allocations are made to benefit the broadband industry which will benefit all segments of the Indian population.”