According to the Ministry of Communications and IT, the government has collected Rs 232.25 billion under the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund till September 2014. Meanwhile, the government disbursed an amount of Rs 62.45 billion under the USO Fund till October 2014.
A total amount of Rs 20.10 billion has been utilised from the fund for the implementation of the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project. The project aims to provide broadband connectivity to around 250,000 gram panchayats in the country and is being executed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, RailTel Corporation of India and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.
The ministry added that a sum of Rs 17.2 billion has been recovered from the telecom companies and telecom infrastructure providers towards the liquidated damages for delays in the implementation of the shared mobile infrastructure scheme.
