Govt ups rural connectivity spends amid push from telcos to scrap USOF levy

The government spends on rural connectivity projects and telecom research and development projects through the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) has been estimated at Rs 19,000 crore in FY25, a 21% increase from the revised estimate of Rs 15,700 crore in FY24.

Higher spends from USOF in the last financial year and projected estimates in the current financial year assume significance given a higher Rs 79,000 crore corpus in the USOF fund.