USOF to be enlarged and used to boost telecom equipment manufacturing

The Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), renamed Digital Bharat Nidhi under the Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2023, is expected to be utilised as a mega-money source for research and development in networking and telecom equipment manufacturing. DoT is exploring ways to ramp up the Telecom Technology Development Fund, which is currently pegged at 5 per cent of the annual collections of the USOF or approximately Rs 5 billion.