The Union Cabinet has cleared subsidy amount of Rs 1,250 crore to state-owned telco BSNL as a form of compensation to fund deficit that it incurred in operating rural wireline connections installed prior to 1st April, 2002. The fund comes from Universal Services Obligation Fund set up by the government in 2002 to be utilized for providing telecommunications services in rural areas at subsided rates. The current amount of Rs 1,250 will compensate those connection provided before April 2002, as per TRAI and Telecom Commission evaluation and assessments. As of March 31, 2014, the total number of eligible rural wire-line connections, under the subsidy scheme stood at 32.32 lakh connections. No more USOF support for BSNL: The Cabinet also added that this would be “the last and final payment and no further request from BSNL for financial/subsidy support from USOF…
