Lok Sabha Question No. 2435 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-21
Subject: Universal Access Levy
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Karti P. Chidambaram

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2435 TO BE ANSWERED ON 21 st  DECEMBER, 2022

## UNIVERSAL ACCESS LEVY

## 2435.    SHRI KARTI P. CHIDAMBARAM:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the Universal Access Levy (UAL) collected in FYs 2014-15 to 2021-22 as well as provisional data for the current FY;
- (b) the details of UAL credited to Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) in FYs 2014-15 to 202122 and provisional data for the current FY,year-wise;
- (c) the details of funds under USOF allocated and utilised in FYs 2014-15 to 2021-22 and provisional data for the current FY, project-wise and State/ UT-wise;
- (d) the details of status of various projects for which funds have been disbursed through USOF;
- (e) whether the USOF funds are diverted towards other purposes or schemes, if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether the Government intends to reduce the Universal Service Obligation Levy as recommended by TRAI and telecommunication industry stakeholders, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

- (a) Rs. 75,386 crore is collected as Universal Access Levy (UAL) during Financial Years (FYs) 201415 to 2021-22 and current FY 2022-23 at the end of November 2022.
- (b) The funds for Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) are credited through budgetary provision. The year-wise details  of  Universal  Access  Levy  (UAL)  credited to  Universal  Service  Obligation  Fund (USOF) during FYs 2014-15 to 2021-22 and provisional data for the current FY 2022-23 upto November 2022 is given in Annexure-I.
- (c) The Project-wise details of funds allocated/utilised/disbursed from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) during FYs 2014-15 to 2021-22 and current FY 2022-23 upto November, 2022 is given in Annexure-II. The  State/UT-wise  details  of  funds  allocated/utilised/disbursed  from  Universal  Service Obligation Fund (USOF) during FYs 2014-15 to 2021-22 and current FY 2022-23 upto November, 2022 is given in Annexure-III.
- (d) The Status of Projects /Schemes of USOF is given in Annexure-IV.
- (e) USO Funds are used for providing telecom services in rural and remote areas of the country at affordable and reasonable prices and not for other purposes.
- (f) In 2015, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended that component of USOF levy should be reduced from 5% to 3% of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) for all licences with effect from 1 st April  2015.  However,  the  recommendation  of  TRAI  was  not  accepted  considering  the  revised  and expanded targets of USOF.

Annexure referred in part (b) of the above said Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2435 to be answered on 21.12.2022

The year-wise details of Universal Access Levy (UAL) credited to Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)  during  FYs  2014-15  to  2021-22  and  provisional  data  for  the  current  FY  2022-23  upto November 2022

| Financial Year                                   |   UAL credited to USOF (Figures in Rs. Crores) |
|--------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
| 2014-15                                          |                                        2086.98 |
| 2015-16                                          |                                        3100    |
| 2016-17                                          |                                        7225.79 |
| 2017-18                                          |                                        7000    |
| 2018-19                                          |                                        4788.22 |
| 2019-20                                          |                                        2926    |
| 2020-21                                          |                                        7200    |
| 2021-22                                          |                                        8300    |
| 2022-23 (as per Budget Allotment for FY 2022-23) |                                        9000    |

Annexure referred in part (c) of the above said Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2435 to be answered on 21.12.2022

## The  Project-wise  details  of  funds  allocated/utilised/disbursed  from  Universal  Service  Obligation Fund (USOF) during FYs 2014-15 to 2021-22 and current FY 2022-23 upto November, 2022

| Sl. No.   | Name of Schemes/Projects                                                                           |   Figures in Rs. Crore |
|-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------|
| 1         | Setting up of 25000 Wi-Fi Hotspot at Rural Exchanges of BSNL                                       |                    529 |
| 2         | Provision of Mobile Services in 354 uncovered Villages of Border States                            |                    137 |
| 3         | Setting up of Wi-Fi Choupals at 5,000 Gram Panchayats by Common Service Centre                     |                    104 |
| 4         | Provision of Mobile Services in 502 uncovered villages of Aspirational Districts                   |                     30 |
| 5         | Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra                                                                             |                      7 |
| 6         | BharatNet                                                                                          |                  35785 |
| 7         | Provision of Mobile Services in Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (LWE Phase-I)                   |                   4051 |
| 8         | Provision of Mobile Services in Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (LWE Phase-II)                  |                     59 |
| 9         | Shared Mobile Infrastructure Scheme                                                                |                     13 |
| 10        | Provision of Mobile Services in uncovered villages of Andaman &Nicobar Islands                     |                      1 |
| 11        | Provision of Mobile Services in NER and National Highways                                          |                    661 |
| 12        | Provision of Mobile Services in Meghalaya                                                          |                    127 |
| 13        | Sanchar Shakti                                                                                     |                      1 |
| 14        | Village Public Telephones in uncovered villages (VPTs)                                             |                     46 |
| 15        | Augmentation, Creation and Management of Optical Fiber Network in Assam (OFC Assam)                |                     38 |
| 16        | Augmentation, Creation and Management of Optical Fiber Network in NE-I (OFC-NE-I)                  |                     18 |
| 17        | Augmentation, Creation and Management of Optical Fiber Network in NE-II (OFC-NE-II)                |                     13 |
| 18        | Rural Household Direct Exchange Lines (RDELS)                                                      |                   1281 |
| 19        | Satellite Bandwidth Augmentation in Andaman &Nicobar Islands                                       |                    148 |
| 20        | Satellite Bandwidth Augmentation in Lakshadweep                                                    |                     70 |
| 21        | Shared Mobile Charging Facilities (SMCF)                                                           |                      1 |
| 22        | Submarine Optical Fibre Connectivity between Chennai to Andaman &Nicobar Islands and other Islands |                    956 |
| 23        | Submarine Optical Fibre Connectivity between Kochi to Lakshadweep and other Islands                |                    150 |
| 24        | Ten 2G Edge BTS in Lakshadweep                                                                     |                     10 |
| 25        | Hiring of 20 Gbps International Bandwidth for Internet Connectivity to Agartala                    |                      5 |
| 26        | Setting up of Wi-Fi Hotspot at 200 Railway Stations                                                |                     19 |
| 27        | Wi-Fi hotspots at 200 Gram Panchayats by BSNL using BharatNet backhaul, as a pilot project         |                      3 |
| 28        | Rural Wireline Broadband                                                                           |                    175 |
|           | Grand Total                                                                                        |                  44437 |

Annexure referred in part (c) of the above said Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2435 to be answered on 21.12.2022

The State/UT-wise details of funds allocated/utilised/disbursed from USOF during FYs 2014-15 to 2021-22 and current FY 2022-23 upto November, 2022

| Sl. No.   | Name of States/UT                      |   Figures in Rs. Crore |
|-----------|----------------------------------------|------------------------|
| 1         | Andaman &Nicobar Islands               |                   1104 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh                         |                    101 |
| 3         | Assam                                  |                    324 |
| 4         | Bihar                                  |                    230 |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh                           |                    458 |
| 6         | Gujarat                                |                     35 |
| 7         | Haryana                                |                     11 |
| 8         | Himachal Pradesh                       |                     27 |
| 9         | Jammu and Kashmir (including Ladakh)   |                     72 |
| 10        | Jharkhand                              |                    677 |
| 11        | Karnataka                              |                     33 |
| 12        | Kerala                                 |                     21 |
| 13        | Lakshadweep                            |                    230 |
| 14        | Maharashtra                            |                    129 |
| 15        | Madhya Pradesh                         |                     82 |
| 16        | North East-I (NE-I)                    |                    263 |
| 17        | North East (NE-II)                     |                    283 |
| 18        | Odisha                                 |                    265 |
| 19        | Punjab                                 |                     29 |
| 20        | Rajasthan                              |                     22 |
| 21        | Tamil Nadu                             |                      4 |
| 22        | Telangana                              |                     91 |
| 23        | Uttar Pradesh                          |                    123 |
| 24        | Uttarakhand                            |                     16 |
| 25        | West Bengal (including Sikkim)         |                     99 |
| 26        | Centrally Allocated / Disbursed Funds# |                  39705 |
|           | Grand Total                            |                  44437 |

********

## Annexure-IV

Annexure referred in part (d) of above said Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2435 to be answered on 21.12.2022

## Ongoing Projects /Schemes of USOF

|   Sl. No. | Name of Schemes/Projects                                                            |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | Provision of Mobile Services in 354 uncovered Villages of Border States             |
|         2 | Provision of Mobile Services in 502 uncovered villages of Aspirational Districts    |
|         3 | BharatNet                                                                           |
|         4 | Provision of Mobile Services in Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (LWE Phase-I)    |
|         5 | Provision of Mobile Services in Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (LWE Phase-II)   |
|         6 | Provision of Mobile Services in uncovered villages of Andaman &Nicobar Islands      |
|         7 | Provision of Mobile Services in NER and National Highways                           |
|         8 | Provision of Mobile Services in Meghalaya                                           |
|         9 | Submarine Optical Fibre Connectivity between Kochi to Lakshadweep and other Islands |
|        10 | Setting up of 25000 Wi-Fi Hotspot at Rural Exchanges of BSNL                        |

## Closed / Completed Projects /Schemes of USOF during 2014-15 to 2022-23

1.

Setting up of Wi-Fi Choupals at 5,000 Gram Panchayats by Common Service Centre

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra

Shared Mobile Infrastructure Scheme

Sanchar Shakti

Village Public Telephones in uncovered villages (VPTs)

Augmentation, Creation and Management of Optical Fiber Network in Assam (OFC Assam)

Augmentation, Creation and Management of Optical Fiber Network in NE-I (OFC-NE-I)

Augmentation, Creation and Management of Optical Fiber Network in NE-II (OFC-NE-II)

Rural Household Direct Exchange Lines (RDELS)

Satellite Bandwidth Augmentation in Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Satellite Bandwidth Augmentation in Lakshadweep

Shared Mobile Charging Facilities (SMCF)

Submarine Optical Fibre Connectivity between Chennai to Andaman & Nicobar Islands and other

Islands

Ten 2G Edge BTS in Lakshadweep

Hiring of 20 Gbps International Bandwidth for Internet Connectivity to Agartala

Setting up of Wi-Fi Hotspot at 200 Railway Stations

Wi-Fi hotspots at 200 Gram Panchayats by BSNL using BharatNet backhaul, as a pilot project

Rural Wireline Broadband