Telecom services in unserved, underserved areas: USF has spent Rs90.670bn so far

ISLAMABAD: The Universal Service Fund (USF) has spent Rs 90.670 billion since inception on providing telecom services in unserved and underserved areas of the country, while Rs 71.06 billion is still in balance, official documents revealed.

The USF was created in 2007 under the Telecom Act Amendment of 2006 to extend cellular, broadband internet, fibre optics, and other telecommunication services to unserved or underserved areas. All telecom companies have been contributing 1.5 percent of their revenues to the USF.

Official data revealed that the total contribution of telecom operators to the USF is Rs 131.298 billion, since its inception. The USF received Rs 12.411 billion from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and earned Rs 17.366 billion as interest on investment and bank balance.

Interest discontinues in 2016. Further, the USF held Rs 653.87 million share of AJK USF which is payable to AJK.

The USF has total receipts of Rs 161.730 billion where spending is Rs 90.670 billion. Net fund is Rs 71.06 billion including Rs 57.210 billion funds with Ministry of Finance and Rs 13.850 billion at Public Account.

The USF spent the highest amount of Rs 18.750 billion in 2021-22 while the highest inflow of Rs 14.784 billion in 2013-14. USF is mandated organisation for telecom services across the country.

USF has launched/planned a number of projects under the voice and high speed broadband data services program (3G/4G).

The documents further revealed that projects worth Rs 42.3 billion are under execution, whereas, many projects are planned for un/under served population in rural and remote areas across the country.

Depending upon the size of project targets, the completion timelines fluctuate and range from six months to 18 months.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023