Tax holiday, GST rationalisation to boost wired broadband penetration in India: Excitel

NEW DELHI: The Centre should declare a tax holiday for wireline internet service providers (ISPs) and reduce the goods and services tax (GST) on telecom services from 18% to 5% to accelerate wired broadband penetration in the country, which ranks lower than some of its neighbors, according to Excitel.

“We have 18% GST, which should kept at the minimum slab of 5%. We are talking about a highly underpenetrated sector. So every incentive from the government, including relaxation in GST, makes the internet cheaper for a user,” Vivek Raina, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Excitel, told ETTelecom in an interview.