MUMBAI: Citi Venture Capital International-owned You Telecom India has resized its investment plan amid the economic downturn.

The company has decided to pump in Rs 2.5 billion over two years, scaling down its earlier plan of infusing Rs 4 billion to boost its cable TV and broadband business.

Narrowing down the spread, the expansion plan will focus on depth and consolidation of the business in the cities where it runs operations.

“We had earlier planned to expand into 15 new cities. But in a capital scarce scenario, we will go to six more cities in the first phase. After that, we will rework on our fund requirement,” says You Telecom CEO EVS Chakravarthy.

The redrawn map will mean that You Telecom stays as a niche player in the market for at least two years, shunning away from a frenzy among many multi-system operators (MSOs) to land grab and build scale.

“We have seen how some MSOs have been pursuing a high-growth subscriber universe by recklessly acquiring cable networks. Having a large universe can become a liability. The capital has dried up for them and there is no change in their business models. It is important to be consistent, strong, stable and profitable,” says Chakravarthy.