The strategy for network expansion in rural areas mainly
involves provision of phones in the viable areas through market mechanism and
through Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) in the non-viable areas.

While Village Public Telephones (VPTs) will enable public
access, a scheme of infrastructure sharing by infrastructure providers and
universal service providers has been launched under USOF to create
infrastructure in rural and remote areas.

The achievements of the schemes under USOF are the
following:

Apart from the 308.87 million connections provided in the
rural areas, 576350 VPTs have been provided till 31.10.11. 97.09 percent of the
villages in India have now been covered by the VPTs.

As on 30.10.2011, 7289 towers i.e. about 99 percent have
been set up under shared mobile infrastructure scheme. The infrastructure so
created is being shared by three service providers for provision of mobile
services.

As on 30.09.2011, a total of 224,631 broadband
connections have been provided and 5,674 kiosks  have been set up in rural
and remote areas under Rural Broadband Scheme for expanding provision of
 wireline broadband connectivity upto village level.

Another scheme has been launched to provide sufficient
back-haul capacity to integrate the voice and data traffic from the access
network in the rural areas to their core network by strengthening the OFC
network.

This scheme considers Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) Network
augmentation between the blocks’ HQ and Districts’ HQ to begin with. USOF,
through this Scheme, shall provide subsidy support for augmentation, creation
and management of intra-district SDHQ-DHQ OFC Network on the condition that it
will be shared with other Telecom Operators at the rates prescribed in the
Agreement. Assam has been taken up first for implementation.

Some of the pilot projects undertaken by USOF are the
following:

Support is being provided for mobile charging stations in
5000 villages through Tata Energy Research Institute ( TERI) project of
Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL). The solar mobile charging stations in these
5000 villages are to be provided in a phased manner over a period of two years
from the date of signing of the Agreement. Till 30.04.2011, mobile charging
stations have been established in 322 villages.

 

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with
BSNL for financial support from USOF for provision of Broadband enabled Rural
Public Service Terminals (RPSTs) to eligible Woman SHGs (Self Help Groups) on
pilot basis in the states of HP and Rajasthan. BSNL shall provide an RPST to
one eligible SHG from each of its eligible rural wire-line exchanges under the
MoU as per agreed terms & conditions with subsidy support from USO Fund. At
present, 150 RPSTs (100 in Rajasthan and 50 in HP) have been provided under this
scheme.

Recognizing the vital role that Information Communication
Technology (ICT) can play in the empowerment of rural women, a scheme has been
launched for pilot projects aimed at facilitating Self Help Groups (SHGs)
access to ICT enabled services. Financial support from USO Fund is to be
provided towards Value Added Service (VAS) subscriptions for SHGs in accordance
with the provisions of underlying subsidy agreements.

MoUs have been signed for Proof of Concept (PoC) for 8
mobile VAS projects in the state of Tamilnadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and the Union Territory of
Puducherry.

Government has approved National Optical Fiber
Network  in October 2011 for providing Broadband connectivity to all
Panchayats at a cost of approx Rs 20,000 crore.

The plan is to extend the existing optical fiber
network  up to Panchayats. The network will be available to telecom
service providers for providing various services to the citizens in
non-discriminatory manner.  As per the approval of the Cabinet, the action
for establishing and operationalising Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been
initiated for management and operation of the NOFN and ensuring
non-discriminatory access to all service providers. 

NOFN will also facilitate implementation of various
e-governance initiatives such as e-health, e-banking, e-education etc. thereby
facilitating inclusive growth.

The Network will provide a highway for transmission of
voice, data and video in rural areas. It will enable the broadband connectivity
upto 2 Mbps, capable of providing various electronic services like education,
health, entertainment, commerce etc; to people and businesses.

The people in rural areas, student, entrepreneurs,
various Government Departments providing services under e-gov projects will be
benefitted. It will also provide connectivity to various public institutions
like Gram Panchayats, Primary Health Centres (PHCs), schools etc. in rural
areas. It will also result in investment from the private sector both for
providing different services and manufacturing of broadband related telecom
equipment. 

By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]