BSNL, MTNL And Other Telecom PSU To Spend 6,464 Crore This Fiscal Year

The government has transferred 3,537 crore to Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) which is used for increasing telecom service penetration in rural.

The National Optical Fibre Network, under which all 2.5 lakh village panchayats are to be connected with high speed broadband services, is being funded through USOF. The government has set target to connect 50,000 gram panchayats by broadband this fiscal and all 2.5 lakh by end of March 2017.

Allocation of 1 crore made to Hemisphere Properties India limited (HPIL) indicates progress in resolving surplus land issue of VSNL, now Tata Communications. In 2005, the Cabinet had approved special purpose vehicle, HPIL, to execute the transaction related to the surplus VSNL land.

Tata Communications had acquired the PSU in 2002, but the deal did not include 773.13 acres of land assets owned by VSNL, which have been lying unused following the acquisition.

Government has to provide 2 crore loan to HPIL for hiring a consultant that has to work on procedures for hiving off the land.
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