I was highly delighted when Economic Times greeted me today morning with its first headline as

Broadband may come free in two years

It further said “The government proposes to offer all citizens of India free, high-speed broadband connectivity by 2009, through the state-owned telecom service providers BSNL and MTNL.”
Its really a great news for not only the internet users here but all those who are deterred by its high cost and are unable to surf the web for longer periods. This will also increase the penetration as well as the usage and will open new opportunities in the field of internet marketing.

I remember when a couple of months back after returning from Delhi, I told a teenager who is a die-hard internet user that New Delhi Railway Station has converted to Wi-Fi zone and above all its free for all. You know, what was his first reaction like? He said that now he can live his whole life sitting at the railway lines with his laptop! Well lets see how this internet community will react after reading this news!

This plan if really implemented will change all the market equations and India will become a market bigger than ever. Lets pray that government is able to materialise and achieve what it plans. Some time back when BSNL launched a rental plan with free BSNL to BSNL unlimited calls in Gujarat as a pilot project which was planned for a nationwide roll out later on, it cheered up not only the subscribers but all tele-marketing companies were inclined to calculate the cost benefits and re-plan their strategies for the coming era. But nothing happened anything like that. Hey, lets be optimistic and hope for the best.