The government said on Wednesday that the Telegraph Act would be amended to incorporate cellular service providers to get a share from the Universal Service Obligation Fund to connect all villages, highways and rail network.
USO Fund was created for providing fixed line services in the rural India and state owned Bharat Sancahr Nigam has been the main user of it. Since most of the private basic service providers had failed to meet the rural obligation, government had created the Fund to subsidise BSNL mainly for the purpose.
Incorporating cellular operators to share the Fund would mean that private cellular companies get major financial assistance for their next phase of expansion either in the villages or on the highways.
"We have discussed the matter with the USO Fund administrator and working out the details to incorporate the cellular services in the ambit of USO Fund," Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran told reporters in New Delhi.
The move could prove to be beneficial for the private cellular companies, as they have already announced big plans to tap rural India and to cover highways in the coming months.
Five per cent of the revenue share, given by telecom companies to the government, goes towards USO Fund.
Maran also claimed that about 87 per cent of the villages have been connected and large part of this has been done by state owned BSNL.
On when the Act would be amended, Maran said, "we have initiated the process and very soon a final decision will be taken."
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