USO funds for rural telecom infrastructure

NEW DELHI: A proposal is under active consideration of the Government to provide support for shareable infrastructure to the eligible access service providers and infrastructure service providers for providing cellular mobile services in rural and remote areas of the country.

In a written reply to a question, Dr Shakeel Ahmad, Minister of State for Communications &

Information Technology informed the Rajya Sabha added today that consultations have been held with the Access Service Providers, Infrastructure Providers, Association of Telecom Service Providers and Manufactures in this regard.

To enable such support, a bill to amend the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 is proposed to be introduced during the current Budget Session, Dr Ahmad said.