Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)

Key updates-

• The Project envisages to provide 4G based mobile services in the 7,287 uncovered villages of 44 Aspirational Districts across five States.
• The five states include Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra & Odisha.
• The cost of the project is  Rs 6,466 crore including operational expenses for 5 years.

About Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)-

• USOF is a fund under the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communication. 
• USOF generated by Universal Service Levy(USL) which is collected from the Service Providers at a defined percentage of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) as a component of Licence Fee. 
• The collections of USL are credited to the Consolidated fund of India and allocation of funds to USOF is through Parliamentary approval. 
• The balances to the credit of the Fund does not lapse at the end of the financial year.
• It aims to provide a balance between the provision of Universal Service to all uncovered areas, including the rural areas.
• The concept of Universal Service Obligation was originated by Rowland Hill in 1837, with his postal reforms, which included uniform rates across the United Kingdom.
• The New Telecom Policy (NTP) 1999 of the Department of Telecom, GoI had Universal Service as one of its main objectives.
• Further, NTP envisaged the implementation of USO for rural and remote areas would be undertaken by all fixed service providers who shall be reimbursed from the USOF. 
• The Universal Service Support Policy came into effect in 2002.  
• The Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003 gave statutory status to USOF.

• There are 24 partners for USOF including Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Bharti Airtel Limited, Tata TeleServices Limited,  Reliance Communications Limited, Reliance Telecom Limited, Aircel, Vodafone, etc

Objectives of USOF-

• Economic: Network extension & stimulate uptake of the ICT services.
• Social: Mainstreaming the underserved & un-served areas/groups by bridging the Access Gap.
• Political: To enable citizens to exercise their political rights in an informed way.
• Constitutional: Equitable distribution of the fruits of the telecom/digital revolution and fair allocation of national resources (pooled USO levy) via targeted subsidies.