The government has announced that it will provide funding to operators from the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund to create telecom infrastructure in rural India. As per the agreement, the government will extend financial support for both passive (land, tower and power back-up) and active (BTS, antennae and a portion of the backhaul) infrastructure, which will then have to be shared between operators. However, bids for the two will be separate. The government has also allowed standalone infrastructure providers to bid, but only for passive infrastructure. On the other hand, access providers bidding for passive infrastructure have to also compulsorily bid for the active component. According to DoT officials, tenders for the bids will be announced by the end of February.
