Lok Sabha Question No. 346 (STARRED), answered on 2020-03-18
Subject: USOF
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Pashupati Nath Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 346 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18 TH  MARCH, 2020

## USOF

| †*346.                                                                                    | SHRI PASHUPATI NATH SINGH: Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:                                            |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| (a)                                                                                       | the objectives of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF);                                                                |
| (b) details                                                                               | whether the Government has not been able to achieve the above objectives of USOF, if so, the thereof and the reasons therefor; |
| (c) and                                                                                   | whether the Government has fixed the accountability for non-fulfilment of the said objectives;                                 |
| (d)                                                                                       | if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?                                                                   |
| ANSWER MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW&JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | ANSWER MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW&JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY                                      |
| (a) to (d)                                                                                | A statement is laid on the Table of the House.                                                                                 |

## STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) to  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  *346  FOR  18 TH   MARCH,  2020 REGARDING 'USOF'.

(a) & (b) Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) was established with effect from 01.04.2002  under  the  Indian  Telegraph  (Amendment)  Act  2003,  as  amended  from  time  to  time,  to provide  financial  support  for  the  provision  of  telecom  services  in  commercially  unviable  rural  and remote areas  of  the  country.  The  scope  of  USO  Fund  covers  all  telecom  services  including  mobile services, broadband connectivity and creation of infrastructure like Optical Fibre Cable (OFC), etc. in rural and remote areas.

A number of schemes have been taken up with funding from USOF for expansion of telecom services in rural and remote areas of the country as given below:

- (i) Under BharatNet project to  provide broadband connectivity in all the Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country, as of February 2020, a total of 1,36,693 Gram Panchayats (including Block Headquarters) have been made Service Ready.
- (ii) Public Wi-Fi  hotspots  at  the  25,000  rural  telephone  exchanges of  BSNL  are  being provided. As of February 2020, a total of 24,289 Wi-Fi hotspots are installed and out of them, 23,787 are providing services.
- (iii) For provision of mobile  services  in  Left  Wing  Extremism  (LWE)  affected  areas ,  the Phase-I scheme has been completed by installing 2343 towers.
- (iv) Under Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) for mobile connectivity in the  North  Eastern  Region, as  of  February  2020,  a  total  of  1269  towers  have  been installed, and out of them 1153 sites are already providing services.
- (v) Laying of submarine optical fibre cable between Chennai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands for  providing  high  bandwidth  connectivity  to  Andaman  &  Nicobar  Islands  is  in progress and is targeted to be completed by June 2020.
- (vi) For providing mobile connectivity in 354 villages of uncovered border areas , Letter of Intent (LoI) has been issued to the successful bidder.

USOF projects such as BharatNet, LWE scheme, CTDP for North Eastern Region (NER) are of mega nature and the sites are widely dispersed across the country in difficult rural and remote areas. Implementation of the projects in hilly and forest areas, LWE affected areas and getting Right of Way (RoW) and other permissions pose a challenge and require close coordination with various Central and State Government Authorities. All out efforts are made to expeditiously implement the projects.

(c) & (d) The implementation of the USOF schemes is carried out through the Service Providers after  entering  into  contracts,  and  action  is  taken  as  indicated  therein  for  not  meeting  the  stipulated targets.

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