Finmin conservative in allocation under USOF:Telecom Secretary

Around Rs 10,000 crore will be spent from the USO Fund in 2016-17 to speed up digital infrastructure projects even as the Finance Ministry remains conservative in allocations from it, Telecom Secretary J S Deepak said today.

The expenditure from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USO Fund) was around Rs 3,000 crore last fiscal.

Speaking at a seminar here on 'ICT emerging technologies & USOF for Digital India' Deepak announced that Rs 10,000 crore will be spent in 2016-17, "which is the highest in the history of USOF".

An official statement also quoted him as saying that "the Finance Ministry is very conservative in allocation of funds under USOF" and "despite Rs 70,000 crore available under USOF, allocation of work is less than 40 per cent".

He admitted however that the execution of digital infrastructure projects particularly in rural areas needs to be speeded up.

"This year, the spending would be Rs 10,000 crore which would be utilised for expansion of Bharat Net project and improving connectivity in North East, and Andaman and Nicobar islands, as well as providing connectivity in areas affected by Left Wing extremism," Deepak said.

For USO, the total amount accrued so far is Rs 76,404 crore, of which Rs 31,147 crore has been disbursed. "The balance amount is pegged at Rs 45,256 crore," he said.

Department of Telecom has taken several measures for expansion of services in rural and remote areas, including chalking out a comprehensive telecom development plan for the North-East as well as setting up of mobile towers in the Left wing extremism affected states at an estimated Rs 3,567.50 crore.