Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Jul 03, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Jul 03, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio |
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Info-Tech
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Telecommunications Industry & Economy - Rural Development Rural tele-density much below target
Our Bureau New Delhi, July 2 The Government on Wednesday said that the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund created for the telecom industry had not been adequately utilised as the private sector trailed behind in achieving the targets. “Of late, there has been a strong criticism about the funds available under the USO scheme. I wish to clarify that the USO funds are basically aimed at attracting and involving the private sector in extending tele density in the rural areas. To the extent this has not happened, we have not succeeded in achieving the objectives of the USO Fund,” said Mr Siddhartha Behuria, Secretary, Department of Telecommunication. He said that the government was working on a scheme to provide one lakh phone connections in rural common service centres. In addition, all government secondary and higher secondary schools and public health centres would be provided with broadband connectivity. Mr Behuria was addressing a FICCI seminar, where the industry chamber, along with Ernst &Young, released its survey on the emerging subscriber growth in the rural telecom sector. As per the joint study, rural telecom subscriber base was expected to constitute 40 per cent (100 million subscribers) of the next 250 million Indian wireless users in the next five- ten years. The paper suggested that operators could follow the same revenue model in the rural areas as in the urban areas, where they achieved profitability by reducing fixed costs, controlling variable costs and carefully tailoring services to the requirements of their customers. The USO Fund has large untapped reserves to support a range of new schemes. With the likely phasing out of the Access Deficit Charge (ADC), new incentives for rolling out mobile networks in rural India will come to the forefront, it said. BSNL may get relief for rural phone burden Airtel to focus on rural expansion DoT to allow niche operators in rural areas Mobile buzz: It gets louder in the rural areas More Stories on : Telecommunications | Rural Development
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