DoT plans USO scheme for rural mobile telephony

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New Delhi June 8

After receiving tremendous response from private operators for its rural cellular project, the Communications and IT Ministry is launching a new scheme for setting up additional cellular infrastructure in rural areas with support from the Universal Services Obligation (USO) fund within two months.

The plan, which envisages 4,000 additional towers in remote areas, was discussed in a meeting held between the Minister, Mr A. Raja, and representatives from the industry.

The earlier scheme, which received aggressive bids from private operators, aims to set up 8,000 towers in more than 200 villages.

The Government is also undertaking a separate project to fund broadband infrastructure with support from the USO fund.

During the closed-door meeting held at Electronic Niketan, various industry associations including the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) made presentations on how the operators can help in boosting rural telephony in the country.

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