Govt waives license fee on rural landline phones

New Delhi, Jul 24 (UNI) The Telecom Commission has decided to waive license fee on rural landline telephones to promote telephony in rural areas.

The decision is in line with the government's aim to take rural teledensity to 25 per cent with 20 crore connections at the end of 11th plan from just 8 per cent at 2007-end.

The Rs 200-crore annual exemption will also help boost e-governance with penetration of broadband services in villages and reduce urban-rural digital divide.

The Commission also decided to reduce universal service obligation (USO) levy by 2 per cent from 5 to 3 for those service providers who have already covered more than 95 per cent of rural areas.

The government had set up USO to create infrastructure in rural and remote areas to provide telecommunication services to people at affordable prices.

UNI SAA MP AS1814