Question : USOF

(a) the details of the total funds sanctioned, allocated, and spent on Universal Service Obligation(USOF) for financial years 2014-15 to 2021-22, with special emphasis on 2020-21 and 2021-22;

(b) the details of utilization of existing corpus of the USOF, State-wise especially Maharashtra and Karnataka;

(c) whether USOF funds are being used for other purposes and if so, the details thereof including the allocations made to various partners along with the status of projects initiated under the USOF; and

(d) the details of inspection that has been conducted under the monitoring mechanism of the USOF during the financial years 2014-15 to 2021-22?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS
(SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)
(a) Rs. 40,779.99 crore has been sanctioned/ allocated/ spent/ disbursed under various Schemes of Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) during the Financial Years (FY) 2014-15 to 2021-22, including Rs. 7,200 crore during FY 2020-21 and Rs. 6,453 crore in FY 2021-22 (upto February 2022).

(b) Upto February, 2022, a total amount of Rs. 65,678 crore has been disbursed / utilized from USOF. The State/UT-wise details (including Maharashtra and Karnataka) of disbursement of funds are given in Annexure-I.

(c) USO Funds are used for providing telecom services in rural and remote areas of the country at affordable and reasonable prices and not for other purposes.

(d) The Monitoring of the schemes is an ongoing process and its mechanism includes checking the quality of services through Network Operating Centre / Network Management System on real time basis, as well as evaluation of Schemes through physical verification, impact assessment, etc.