Friday, March 18 2005 18:03 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd), Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices have bagged the eight million fixed line rural household telephony project under the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), expected to be worth about Rs 80 billion.

The payment from the USO Fund would be output-based, which would include a two-year upfront cost of Rs 10,000-Rs 12,000 per line (2005-2007) and a five-year maintenance cost, official sources said.

The three successful bidders will provide rural Household Direct Exchange Lines (RDELs) in 274 Secondary Switching Areas (SSAs) comprising of 1685 Short Distance Charging Areas (SDCAs).

While BSNL has bagged 171 SSAs, Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices bagged 61 and 42 SSAs respectively.

BSNL was the sole bidder in Assam, Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir areas. The Letter of Intent for signing the requisite Agreement with USOF has been issued to the successful bidders. The Agreement will be in operation for five years commencing April 1, it added.

The support from USOF will be extended to the RDELs installed between April 1, 2005 and March 31, 2007.

An official statement said as per the present estimates of availability of funds, it will be possible to provide about 8 to 10 million new rural subscriber connections.

This will be a major breakthrough in accelerating roll-out of telecom services in rural areas. The RDELs installed between April 1, 2002 and March 31, 2005 in the identified SDCAs will also be eligible for subsidy support at the same rate that has emerged out of the bid process for new RDELs, it said.