The Hindu Business Line : DoT to rope in various Ministries

New Delhi June 6 The Department of Telecom has decided to rope in various other Government agencies and Ministries such as Panchayati Raj, Health, Agriculture and Education to jointly formulate a strategy to utilise broadband services for the benefit of consumers.

The move, initiated by the Administrator of Universal Services Obligation Fund, aims to best utilise the broadband infrastructure to be set up with support from the USO fund.

Mr Shantanu Consul, Administrator, USO Fund, said, "We do not want a situation where the infrastructure has been created but there are no users for it. We hope to create awareness among various Ministries and Government agencies at the State level on how to use broadband effectively."

To finalise tender

DoT will shortly finalise the tender for its broadband project that envisages around 8,000 towers across the country. Mr Consul said that support from the USO fund will be provided to operators setting up active infrastructure for broadband though financial support will not be given for the passive infrastructure which includes towers, civil construction and generator rooms required to install the broadband equipment.

Operators wanting USO support to offer broadband services in rural areas will have to go through a bidding process. The USO fund has recently concluded the bidding process for setting up over 7,000 towers for mobile services across the country.

Mr D.S. Mathur, Secretary, DoT, said: "By the end of the current financial year 30 per cent more rural areas will be connected by mobile telecom service."

Telecom seminar

Speaking at the second annual telecom regulatory seminar on `Telecom success stories: The way forward' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Mr Mathur said that one lakh villages will be connected through broadband where educational institutes, police stations, and public health centres will be provided broadband Internet services.

He said that one lakh community service centres will also be launched in rural areas supporting farmers, government services and local people.