The finance minister has taken great pains to explain that his current Budget is for the common man, but he has evidently overlooked one of the items which has now become a common necessity for even paanwalas, vegetable vendors and cab drivers and other who are indeed common people - the ubiquitous mobile phone.

While he has thoughtfully given a fillip to the common man's desire for mobility by reducing duties on small cars from 16 per cent to 12 per cent resulting in immediate price decreases by major manufacturers (See: Maruti cuts car prices up to Rs18,000; Hyundai follows with cuts of up to Rs19,000) he has imposed an additional 1-per cent duty on the sale of handsets, creatively termed as a "national calamity contingent duty".

Ironically applicable to polyester yarn earlier, which has now been exempted, this duty first made its appearance in 2003 as part of the Finance Act.

However, he has balanced this blow to national cellular connectivity by making wireless internet more affordable - data cards are now exempt from 16 per cent excise duty while excise and customs duties on modems have been reduced to 8 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.

This is expected to significantly reduce the prices of data cards currently priced around Rs3,000, perhaps as much by Rs500. Next generation internet-based products will also be cheaper owing to the halving of customs duty on convergence products from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. As a result, IP-TV (internet protocol television), and IP-based telephone services will become cheaper. Reduction in specified parts of set-top boxes from 7.5 per cent to zero will also reduce cost of cable-based broadband services.

Though most cellular service providers pointed at the minimal nature of the 1 per cent hike and described its effect on future connections as negligible, some handset manufacturers have already expressed their intentions to increase the prices of their products.

Although some like LG's GSM group head Anil Arora were quite forthcoming on possible price increases, spokespeople from other manufacturers said they were studying the implications of the new duty.

However, Internet service providers are, quite happy with Budget 2008 and think that the reduction in prices of data cards will lead to increased broadband connections and internet penetration, which even now is quite low compared to other Asian powerhouses.