The Hindu Business Line : Rural telephony: TRAI sees no need for bidding

New Delhi, Dec. 16 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Tuesday suggested that the bidding process under the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) to select operators to offer services in rural areas should be done away with as it took a lot of time.

The regulator has said that support from the USO Fund may, instead, be given to anyone who sets up infrastructure in villages. “The tendering process of USOF, right from calling of expression of interest to finalisation of tender and signing of agreement took six to nine months. There is a need to modify the methodology so that this long lead time for launching the scheme can be cut short or completely cut out,” TRAI said.

TRAI pointed out that only 25 per cent of phase one of the rural mobile project has been completed so far.

TRAI has suggested several other initiatives to improve the growth of telecom infrastructure in rural areas, including a proposal to set up optical fibre network financed by the Universal Services Obligations Fund. It has sought comments from various stakeholders.

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