E-Paper
Only 51.4% of Digital Bharat Nidhi funds used, says minister
The USOF/DBN is used to finance projects such as BharatNet, 4G Saturation Project, provision of mobile services in uncovered areas of ‘Aspirational Districts’, etc.
Of the more than ₹1.6 lakh crore collected by the central government as universal access levy under the Digital Bharat Nidhi (earlier known as the Universal Service Obligation Fund) until March 31 this year, only 51.4%, or ₹83,726 crore, allocated by the finance ministry has been fully utilised until September 30 this year, minister of state for communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The minister disclosed the details in a written response to a question raised by DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi.
Between April 1, 2002, (when the USOF was established but was given statutory status in 2003) and March 31, 2024, the USOF amassed ₹1,62,871,64 crore. Under the unified licence conditions, telcos pay 5% of their adjusted gross revenue as UAL. The USOF is then used to provide telecom services in underserved, rural and remote parts of the country.
Between April 1, 2021 and September 30, 2024, the government had disbursed a total of ₹22,323.87 crore to different states and Union Territories, Pemmasani said in a written response to BJP MP Haribhai Patel. At ₹8,791.17 crore, the maximum funds were disbursed in FY2024 since April 1, 2021.
The USOF/DBN is used to finance projects such as BharatNet, 4G Saturation Project, provision of mobile services in uncovered areas of ‘Aspirational Districts’, provision of mobile services in areas hit by left wing extremism, provision of mobile services in Himalayan and Border areas, in Islands, in North Eastern Areas, in Meghalaya, in Arunachal Pradesh and two districts of Assam.
In another response to BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, Pemmasani also mentioned that DBN/USOF was used to establish submarine Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) connectivity between Chennai and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and between Kochi and Lakshadweep Islands.
Pemmasani, in response to a question by Congress MP Amar Singh, said that the DBN administrator had approved 132 proposals from “companies, start-ups, R&D and academic institutions focused on R&D in telecom products and technologies” with a funding of ₹552 crore.
