The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given an in-principle green signal to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)?s suggestion to make the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) an independent body. DoT hopes that this will help to improve USOF?s performance.
DoT is to appoint a consultant to chalk out the framework towards making this fund an independent entity, according to reports. Providing autonomy for management and allocation of this fund will also help expedite DoT’s plans to spend part of it for a slew of projects including setting up over 5,500 telecom towers in remote areas, providing wireline broadband connectivity to all rural kiosks, rolling out Wi-Max services in rural India and funding technology innovations.
