The Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) recently signed an agreement with Bharti Airtel for the provisioning of 4G-based mobile services in identified uncovered villages in aspirational districts in the states of Jharkhand and Maharashtra. The USP will set up and manage the mobile service sites with the USOF grant subsidy.
The agreement signed on 20th May 2022 will be valid for a period of 10 years from the effective date excluding the rollout period of 18 months. The mobile tower will be at least 40 meters GBT long and will support voice, SMS, and data services. It will have a 1+1+1 eNodeB configuration with a sectoral antenna and 4 km minimum radial coverage. The tower will also have minimum backhaul bandwidth of 8 Mbps VSAT and OFC/MW of 15 Mbps.
The USP will set up a total of 1083 mobile towers in Jharkhand and Maharashtra under the arrangement with USOF subsidy support. Jharkhand will get 625 mobile towers in identified uncovered villages whereas Maharashtra will get 458 mobile towers in identified uncovered villages.
