Basic operators told to fulfill VPT obligations

Our eFE Bureau

New Delhi, Jan 3: IT and communications minister Pramod Mahajan has pulled up the private basic telecom operators on the issue of the non-fulfillment of their village public telephony (VPT) obligations. This comes as a big blow for the private operators who have been demanding that their existing VPT targets be funded through the Universal Service Obligation fund.

According to Sanchar Bhawan sources, in a meeting held on Thursday Mr Mahajan told the basic operators to submit a month-wise action plan for fulfillment of their roll-out obligations for villages which have not been covered so far. He pointed out that the projected level of efficiency of private operators was not visible in the fulfillment of their VPT targets. He also reminded the private operators that BSNL was not the only company to have social obligations. Mr Mahajan told private operators that if they wanted a level playing field, they might fulfill VPT obligations as well.