Q. What is the main purpose of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), recently seen in news?
Answer:
Bridging the rural-urban digital divide
Notes: Telecom service providers are urging the Ministry of Finance to halt the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) levy until the current corpus is depleted. The USOF, established in 2003, aims to ensure nondiscriminatory access to affordable telecom services in rural areas thereby bridging the rural-urban digital divide. It offers subsidy support through Net Cost or Viability Gap Funding to encourage expansion in commercially non-viable regions. The fund is sustained by a Universal Service Levy on telecom operators' gross revenue, administered by the Department of Telecommunications under the Ministry of Communications.