(a) whether the Government have created a Universal Services Obligation Fund;
(b) if so, the amount of funds likely to be collected alongwith the sources, source-wise;
(c) the amount of money estimated to be deposited in this Fund annually;
(d) the provisions made for spending the money from this Fund; and
(e) the amount of money deposited in this fund till September, 2001?
THE MINISTER OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI PRAMOD MAHAJAN)
(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 53 FOR 21ST NOVEMBER, 2001 REGARDING UNIVERSAL SERVICES OBLIGATION FUND.
(a) The New Telecom Policy, 1999 regime, stipulates a Levy towards Universal Service Obligation. The Government had sought the recommendations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) on matters relating to Universal Service Obligation. The TRAI has since given its recommendation. The TRAI has recommended that 5% of the Adjusted Gross Revenue of all telecom carriers or operators, excluding pure value added service providers such as Internet Service Providers, Voice Mail Service Providers, etc., should be contributed as Universal Service Levy(USL) and credited to a Universal Service Fund. This levy should come out of the license fee itself and should not be an additional levy. It has also been recommended that the Universal Service Fund be created with effect from 1.4.2002. The recommendations of TRAI are being examined by Government.
(b) & (c): The estimated USL receipts based on the recommendation of TRAI in the financial year 2002-2003 source-wise are as follows:-
Sl. No. Service USL (Rupees in crores)
1 Basic 835.00 2 Cellular 340.00 3 Radio Paging 0.50 4 VSAT-CUG 10.00 5 PMRTS 0.75 6 GMPCS 0.10 7 NLDO 400.00 8 ILDO 220.00
TOTAL 1806.35