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Thomas K Thomas

Raja meets industry to discuss digital divide

New Delhi June 8 After receiving tremendous response from private operators for its rural cellular project, the Communications and IT Ministry is launching a new scheme for setting up additional cellular infrastructure in rural areas with support from the Universal Services Obligation (USO) fund within two months.

The plan, which envisages 4,000 additional towers in remote areas, was discussed in a meeting held between the Minister, Mr A. Raja, and representatives from the industry.

The earlier scheme, which received aggressive bids from private operators, aims to set up 8,000 towers in more than 200 villages.

The Government is also undertaking a separate project to fund broadband infrastructure with support from the USO fund.

During the closed-door meeting held at Electronic Niketan, various industry associations including the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) made presentations on how the operators can help in boosting rural telephony in the country.

Sources said that Mr Raja called upon all the operators to participate more actively in the new USO projects.

The CDMA operators told the Minister that they could offer wireless broadband without waiting for the third-generation policy.

The sources also said that the AUSPI tried to impress upon the Government that an additional carrier in the existing frequency band will enable operators to start offering high-speed data services in he rural areas.

The operators also sought fiscal incentives in the form of lower spectrum charges and licence fee for offering services in rural areas.

Besides, they sought subsidy on consumer premises equipment for broadband services.

While the COAI was represented by Mr T.V. Ramachandran, the AUSPI was represented by Mr S.C. Khanna.

Executives from Reliance Communicaions, Tata Teleservices, Hutchison Essar, Bharti Airtel and Idea Celular were present.

From the Government side, Mr D.S. Mathur, Secretary, DoT and Mr Shantanu Consul, Administrator, USO Fund, were present.

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