India’s new budget might have tipped its hat to the socialists, it still is great news for the telecom industry. So here is quick recap of the telecom/broadband specific highlights in the budget: The foreign direct investment cap in the telecom sector is going up from 49 percent to 74 percent, which is good news for companies like Hutch which own a chunk of Bombay’s main wireless operator. “This is a positive decision and I think very soon we will see many foreign investors coming into India’s telecom sector,” said Rajan Bharti Mittal, joint managing director of Bharti Tele-Ventures. (Read Industry reaction.) Excise duties on computers, and certain mobile phone components and infrastructure equipment have been all together eliminated. Despite all its many faults, I am glad that they have not taken eye of the telecom/broadband ball.