“Constitution & Administration of USO Fund”

2 Constitution & Administration of USO Fund USO Policy came into effect from In Dec.2003, The Indian Telegraph(Amendment) Act 2003 was passed by both Houses of Parliament which had given an statutory status to the USO Fund. To enable USO Support for mobile service and B/Band connectivity also in rural and remote areas of the country Indian telegraph (Amendment) Act 2006 was passed. The Rules for Administration of fund-Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rule Administrator, USOF a senior IAS officer is the Head of USO Fund in India. He is empowered to formulate procedures for implementation of USO and disbursement of funds from USOF. His office is an attached office of the DOT.

3 Field Office : - Controller of Communication Accounts office is performing field function on behalf of the Administrator (USF). There are 26 CCA offices across the country. ADMINISTRATOR (USF ) Jt. Administrator (T) JT. ADMINISTRATOR (F) DDG (BB) Dy Administrator IDy Administrator IIDy Administrator III

44 USO Fund Non-lapsable fund. Transfers to the Fund through Parliamentary approvals. Under the provision of NTP 99 and as per USSP (Universal Service Support Policy) resources for meeting the USO would be raised through Universal Service Levy (USL), which would be a % of the AGR of the Telecom Operators. USL is presently 5% of the AGR of all the Telecom Service Providers except pure VAS providers like Internet, Voice Mail, Service providers etc.

5 Table VII - Universal Service Obligation Fund position as on Financial Year Opening Balance Funds collected as USL# Funds allocatedFunds disbursedBalance at the end of the Year * Total #Tentative figures for USL collection for the year * - Ministry of Finance has stated that the reimbursement of license fees and spectrum charges to BSNL amounting to Rs Crore during the period to for fulfilling rural obligation is required to be taken into account for arriving at the available balance.Taking into account the compensation made to BSNL, the available balance would be Rs core only( ) at the begining of FY As per current date the available balance would provisionally be Rs Cr at the beginning of F.Y

6 BHARAT NIRMAN YOJANA Bharat Nirman will be a time-bound business plan for action in rural infrastructure for the next four years. Under Bharat Nirman, action is proposed in the areas of irrigation, road, rural housing, rural water supply, rural electrification and rural telecommunication connectivity. We have set specific targets to be achieved under each of these goals so that there is accountability in the progress of this initiative. Prime Minister

7 BNY

BHARAT NIRMAN Telecom connectivity constitutes an important part of the effort to upgrade the rural infrastructure. Under the Bharat Nirman Programme, Rural teledensity (Table-I) of at least 40% by 2014, and Broadband coverage (Table-II) of all 2,50,000 village panchayats & Setting up of Bharat Nirman Common Service Centers at Panchayat level by 2012 will be achieved.Table-ITable-II DMU-Report Table-I/Table-IITable-ITable-II

9 VPT IN UNCOVERED VILLAGE (PART OF Bharat Nirman Yojana) VPT for Uncovered Village as per 1991 census (62302 Villages) This excludes Village with <100 Population 4343 VPTs – Digital Satellite Phone Terminal VPTs – On other Technology As on 31/12/2009 BNY Achievement is 61186

10 Role of Controller of Communication Accounts Office a)Monitoring of USO Projects and co-ordination with State, other Central Govt. organization and Telecom Operators. b)Scrutiny of USO Subsidy claim received from IP and USP c)Disbursement of USO subsidy d)Inspection and verification e)Collection of Universal Access Service levy (UASL) from all Telecom Operators.

11 Co-ordiantion by CCA with State Govt.,IPs &USPs State Government CCA USP IP Solution Discussion & Proposed remedy Problem

12 ROLE OF CCA OFFICE Subsidy Claimed Subsidy Permissible MAXIMISE THE USOF AGREEMENT IS ESSENTIALY ONE OF PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP) FOR SPREAD OF COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE TO RURAL INDIA PRIVATE AIM: NETWORK EXPANSION, PROFIT PUBLIC AIM: SPREAD OF RURAL TELEPHONY & IT Win- Win! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED PUBLIC AIM PRIVTATE AIM

13 THANK YOU Kashi Nath Jha Director,NICF 13