Telecom Technology Development Fund
State: Central
Ministry: Ministry Of Communication
Department: Department of Telecommunication
Category: Science, IT & Communications, Business & Entrepreneurship
Beneficiary Type: Business Entity, Industries, University / Institution

The Telecom Technology Development Fund Scheme (hereinafter referred to as ‘Scheme’) has been
notified for domestic companies and institutions involved in technology design, development,
commercialization of telecommunication products and solutions to enable affordable broadband and mobile services.

Benefits:
The scheme is envisaged to bridge the digital divide by developing and manufacturing the state-of-the-art technologies for rural and remote areas. The objectives are, inter alia, to promote:

   1. Technology Ownership and indigenous Manufacturing (Atmanirbhar Bharat) &amp;amp; reduce import and open up export opportunities;
   1. Proliferation of next-generation Telecom technologies in Rural and Remote areas;
   1. Creating a culture of Technology co-creation and co-innovation;
   1. Promote the ecosystem for research, design, prototyping, development, proof of concept testing, IPR creation, field testing, security, certification, and manufacturing of telecom products, end-to-end Solutions, Usecases, Pilots, inter alia; develop and establish relevant standards to meet national requirements and enable their standardization in international standardization bodies;
   1. Promote rural-specific communication technology application/use case development that caters to the needs of rural masses and adds value to their day-to-day activities both economic and social;
   1. Create synergies among the Academia, Research Institutes, Start-ups, and Industry for capacity building and development of the telecom ecosystem through outreach to build rural/remote areas relevant technologies and solutions;
   1. Bridge the gap between R&amp;amp;D and commercialization of products and solutions;
   1. Enable proliferation of affordable broadband and mobile services;
   1. Enable technology demonstration, product integration, pilots, and field trials of the products and solutions;
   1. Enable Technological/business model innovation in solutions and services by utilizing existing infrastructure of USOF/DoT/GoI funded projects; or
   1. Commercialize developed technologies under the scheme. USOF schemes shall incorporate necessary provisions to ensure to enable the rollout of these indigenously developed and piloted technologies developed in all its models.

Eligibility:
The following Indian entities are only eligible for support from this fund.

   1. Domestic Company(ies) with focus on telecom R&amp;amp;D, Use case development
   1. Startups / MSMEs
   1. Academic institutions
   1. R&amp;amp;D institutions, Section 8 companies / Societies, Central &amp;amp; State government entities / PSUs /Autonomous Bodies/SPVs / Limited liability partnerships- with a focus on telecom research and development
   1. Collaborative consortium of the above entities
   1. For Pilots: The above entities may partner, inter alia, with PSUs, TSPs, Central/State Government entities, government autonomous bodies, SPVs, etc.
   1. For Pilot application: Minimum TRL 7 is required.

Application Process:
[Online]
Application Process: (Stepwise):Step 01: Online submission of Proposal (https://usof.gov.in/en/home)
Step 02: Screening of the applicant
Step 03: Review and due diligence by the Technical Evaluation Committee
Step 04: Review and examination by the Administrative Committee
Step 05: Final approval from Competent Authority
Step 06: Assignment to Implementation Agency
Step 07: Continuous monitoring by IA and fund disbursement

Documents Required:
Applicant and collaborator Resume
Registration certificate of the organization/Institute
Approval Certificate from your organisation/Institute on their letterhead for submission of Open/Pilot/Chipset Proposal
Annual report of last 3 years
TAN/ PAN/ CIN of primary applicant/organization
Applicant team resume
GANTT/ PERT chart
Detailed Technical Architecture diagram
Presentation of proposal
Declaration document