Rural DELs means the DELs installed in rural areas as defined in conducting the Census and located in net cost positive SDCAs The scope of this Agreement is the provision & maintenance by the Universal Service Provider (USP), all such RDELs in the SDCAs in a service area covered under the Agreement.
PCOs, RCPs and WLL Mobile including other mobile connections shall not qualify as Rural DELs for the purpose of this Agreement.
RDELs installed on any wireless technology shall use fixed wireless terminals (FWTs) for subsidy support under this Agreement The effective date of agreement is 01.04.2005. The validity of the Agreement is 5 years from the effective date.
Subsidy shall be payable towards RDELs installed between 1.4.2005 and 31.3.2007. The equated annual subsidy wherever payable is to be given upto a maximum period of validity of Agreement USP shall receive subsidy only for net additions of RDELs in a local exchange area. Net addition means the number of RDELs added after making adjustments of RDELs closed permanently on account of non-payment or shift out of local exchange area.
The USP may shift the RDELs within the concerned SDCA during the validity of the Agreement as per demand of the customer. No subsidy support towards shifting of RDELs is payable to the USP.
The USP shall be solely responsible for provision and operation of necessary equipment and systems, treatment of subscriber complaints, collection of call charges and issue of receipt thereof, attending to claims and damages arising out of operations The USP shall work within the framework of the terms and conditions of the basic service license
The SDCA-wise representative rates at which front loaded and equated annual subsidy is disbursable are as given in Part IV 'Financial Conditions' of the Agreement USP shall be eligible to submit the claim for FLS at the end of the quarter in which RDELs are installed and made functional. The quarterly subsidy claims shall be submitted by the USP in the prescribed form and Annexure/Attachments thereto within 30 days of the close of the quarter.
The claims should be duly certified with an Affidavit by a representative of USP duly authorized by a resolution of the Board of Directors The quarterly statements of subsidy claims shall be required to be audited by the Auditors of USP and the report of the Auditors to be filed with the Administrator within seven days of the signing of the Audit Report but not later than 30th September of the following year.
The subsidy from the USOF shall be disbursed in four quarterly installments during each financial year. Each installment shall be disbursed quarterly in arrears. Subsidy for a quarter shall be disbursed after making adjustments, if any, for the payments made in the previous quarter.
Final adjustments, if any, in respect of excess or shortage in the subsidy disbursed shall be made in the following year based on the quarterly statements duly certified by the Auditors of the USP.
In case total amount disbursed for a financial year based on quarterly self assessment claims of the USP results in excess payment by more than 10% of the actual subsidy due to him, the entire amount of excess payment shall be recovered along with an interest at the prime lending rate of State Bank of India prevalent on the day the respective disbursement was made
In cases of faults for more than 7 days in a quarter, the subsidy shall be deducted proportionately for the total number of days RDEL remained faulty during the quarter. In cases, however, where the RDEL remains faulty for 45 days or more in a quarter, no subsidy for the entire quarter shall be allowed. For those SSAs where equated annual subsidy is zero, Rs.250/- shall be taken as the notional rate of equated annual subsidy, at which the deduction shall be calculated.
RDELs that are closed permanently either on account of surrender, shift out of the SDCA or non-payment by the customer shall receive only the eligible EAS from USOF from the date of installation till the date they are permanently closed.
Subsidy claim from QE June 2008 onwards should be certified by concerned GM/DGM (TR) to the effect that information furnished in the claim tallies with billing record
For BSNL the requirement for submission of PBG has been waived as long as it is a 100% Govt. owned company
Roll Out condition modified vide USOF Technical letter No. 30-140/2005-USF ( Vol.VI) dt. 19.2.2007, circulated vide USO Finance letter dated.26.3.2007
Extension for the period 1.4.2007 to 31.3.2008 ( 1 year) -In exercise of the powers conferred under clause 5.1 Schedule II, Part I `General Conditions’ of the Agreement, the period of installation of RDELs was extended by one year with effect from 1.4.2007 to 31.3.2008, inter-alia on the following terms and conditions.
For the RDELs installed during the extended period, the revised RRs for FLS will be Rs.1627/- per RDEL installed and the equated annual subsidy will be Rs.200 per RDEL per annum.
For RDELs installed between 1.4.07 and 31.3.08 FLS shall be paid only against RDELs registering at least one outgoing call during the relevant quarter in which the RDEL is claimed to have been installed.
The USP shall submit the Customer Application Form (CAF) (either soft copy or hard copy) and CDRs in prescribed format, along with the claim for Front Loaded Subsidy (FLS). In case the USP is not able to submit CDRs then the bill summary with usage data shall have to be submitted, in lieu of CDRs.
For all EQA claims too, CDR statements in prescribed format duly arranged as per claim serial number shall accompany the quarterly claims.
FLS for RDELs added on or after 1.4.07 shall be paid only for net additions as per the terms and conditions of the Agreement. The closing balance of RDELs as on 31.3.07 will be taken as the opening balance as on 1.4.07 for the purpose of arriving at quarter wise net addition.
The claims for the FLS and EQA at the revised rates for RDELs installed between 1.4.07 to 31.3.08 will be lodged by the USPs on quarterly basis.
Since the EQA rates for RDELs that have been/will be installed from 1.4.07 to 31.3.08 are different from the earlier rates, the claims for EQA for RDELs installed between 1.4.07 to 31.3.08 will be furnished separately by the USP.
Except for the amendments issued vide letter No. 30-140/2005-USF (Vol.VI) dated 4.1.2008 and the clarifications as above, all other terms and conditions of the concerned agreement shall continue to apply.
The period of installation of RDELs was further extended for the period w.e.f. 1.4.2008 to 31.3.2009 and w.e.f. 1.4.2009 to 31.3.2010 on the same terms and conditions as referred to in the case of extension for the period 1.4.2007 to 31.3.2008.
The FLS in respect of the RDELs installed during the extended period will be paid only against the numbers registering at least one outgoing call during the relevant quarter in which the RDEL is claimed to have been installed.
The subsidy claims at the revised rates in respect of the RDELs installed between 1-4.2008 and 31.3.2009 shall be lodged separately along with the claims for RDELs installed between 1.4.2007 and 31.3.2008
A one time subsidy support has been given from USOF in respect of about 90.5 lakh rural DELs installed prior to 1.4.2002. The support from USOF has been given for the period 1.4.2002 to 31.1.2004 (22 months) towards the difference between the TRAI prescribed rental and rental charged by the USP from the RDEL subscribers.