USOF spends seen Rs 11,500 cr in 2017-18: Deepak

Expenditure on remote and rural telecom infrastructure projects from the USO fund is estimated to be at least Rs 11,500 crore in the next financial year, surpassing this fiscal's estimated spends of Rs 7,500 crore, Telecom Secretary JS Deepak said today.
"Next year, we hope that with the BharatNet phase II coming, there will be further requirement of funds... So this contention that the USOF expenditure is less than it should be, will no longer remain after next year," Deepak told PTI.
Noting that last year the expenditure from the Universal Service Obligation Fund was about Rs 3,000 crore, he said, "this year, we are hopeful that it will increase 2.5 times to Rs 7,500 crore because of the fast pace of BharatNet".

The speed of laying ducts and fibre under the BharatNet project - currently in its first phase - has accelerated eight fold to 400 kms a day from 50 Km a day.
"This has resulted in an increase in expenditure," he said.
The ongoing Rs 18,000 crore BharatNet phase I seeks to provide broadband connectivity to 100,000 gram panchayats by March this year, and the next phase is expected to begin from mid-2017 running all the way up to September 2018.

Phase II will seek to connect 150,000 gram panchayats at an estimated cost of Rs 27,000 crore, and for the first time, through a public-private partnership.

Telecom Commission has given its approval to the second phase of the BharatNet project and the proposal is expected to be sent to the Cabinet by March-end.
Besides this, Department of Telecom has taken several measures for expansion of services in rural and remote areas, including chalking out a comprehensive telecom development plan for the North-East as well as setting up of mobile towers in the Left Wing Extremism affected states.
Under USOF, the government charges a cess, Universal Access Levy, from telecom licensees to fund setting up of telecom infrastructure in all uncovered rural and remote areas of the country.