Telecom Commission approved 1500 crore Rupees subsidy for BSNL

The Inter Ministerial body Telecom Commission of India on 12 December 2012 gave its nod to a 1500 crore Rupees subsidy to state owned BSNL for supporting its landline operations in rural areas.

The approval came in line with the TRAI recommendation which had suggested that 2700 crore rupees should be given to BSNL as operations in rural areas don’t generate enough revenues.

TRAI had suggested that subsidy be given in two installments-1500 crore for 2011-12 and for 2012-13 1250 crore rupees. The subsidy is going to be paid out of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund. BSNL had demanded 2580 crore rupees per from the government to support its rural operations.

As per the Chairman and Secretary of Telecom R Chandrashekhar, commission’s recommendations have been forwarded to Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The commission also had preliminary discussions on Telecom Security Policy but did not take any decision.