India, with mobile broadband reach of only 17 per cent, has a lot of catching up to do as it needs fundamental shift in policies and regulations to strengthen telecom infrastructure, says a CII report.
"... there is still a lot of catching up to do in terms of broadband access and speeds with 17 per cent penetration in mobile broadband, that is, with speed over 512 kbps as against 2 mbps and above for most of the countries," a CII-KPMG report said.
India's teledensity in mobile Internet in rural areas is abysmally low at 12.98 per cent, it added.
The wireless broadband penetration stands at 90 per cent for the US and the UK, 77 per cent for Malaysia and 53 per cent for China.
The policy prescription suggested by the report includes clarity on policies applicable to ICT infrastructure providers, and uniformity of policies across the Centre, state and municipal bodies.
The report calls for "requirement for uniform national policy for ICT infrastructure sector to enable faster deployment and affordable services" and flags issues related to Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Right of Way rules.
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