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India: USO fund to support backhaul sharing Print E-mail
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
The Department of Telecom will use the Universal Services Obligation (USO) fund to support operators sharing their fixed-line backbone with other operators in rural areas.

The USO fund support is intended to encourage state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to unbundle its copper and fibre optic networks and allow private mobile operators to use BSNL’s backbone network to offer service in rural areas. Financial support will be offered to BSNL and to companies that want to share BSNL’s infrastructure. DoT has enlisted the Telecommunications Council of India Ltd (TCIL) to conduct a survey to find out where backbone network is available and who owns it.

Since radio spectrum is a scarce resource, most mobile operators prefer to carry backhaul traffic through cable. However, most of the fixed line network in the country, especially in rural areas, is owned by BSNL, which has not been willing to share its capacity with other operators.

The USO fund plans to fund the set up of around 18,000 towers across the country to offer mobile connectivity to remote villages. However, the backhaul link is a major concern for the operators who have been mandated to complete the project.

"Backhaul is an important aspect, which was not covered in the USO sponsored cellular project for covering 2.5 lakh villages. Therefore, we are taking up a separate project, with help from TCIL, to make sure that the cellular coverage is not impacted due to lack of backhaul network," said a DoT official.

If the offer from the USO fund does not generate any interest, it is possible that a new national network would be built by the government, which would be shared by operators.

Source: The Hindu Business Line - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.