The scope of this Agreement is aimed at operation and maintenance of all the VPTs by the Universal Service Provider (USP) for which Agreement has been entered into.
The effective date of Agreement is 28th March, 2003:
The Universal Service Provider may change the location of VPTs to provide better access to the public within the same village. No payments for relocating the VPTs will be made from USOF on the expenditure incurred on relocation.
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 SSA-wise and technology-wise representative rates at which subsidy is disbursable are given in Part IV 'Financial Conditions' of the Agreement. For wireless technologies, WLL rates of the SSA shall apply.
The Agreement provided for review of representative rates in the third year of the Agreement taking into account, inter-alia, the increase in the revenue on account of provision of STD facility. There have been no changes in the representative rates after review, which have come into effect from the fourth year of the Agreement.
For the purpose of disbursement of funds from USOF, first year ended on 31st March following the date of commencement of Agreement. Subsidy claims are to be submitted by USP in four quarterly installments in the prescribed form and the Annexure/Attachments thereto within 30 days from 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 VPT remained faulty during the quarter. In cases, however, where the VPTs remains faulty for 45 days or more in a quarter, no subsidy for the entire quarter shall be allowed.
With effect from the quarter ending 30.09.2004, VPTs that remain disconnected on account of non-payment and VPTs that register no incremental meter reading during the entire quarter shall not qualify for any subsidy support for that quarter (vide letter no. 30-101/2002-USF dt 14.09.04).
Claims from QE December 2007 onwards should contain a list of NIMR/Closed/DNP VPTs (vide USO letter no. 1-1/2007-USOF dated 19th November 2007).
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 ( vide USO letter no. 1-1/2008-USOF dated 6th May 2008).
Performance Bank Guarantee (PBG) shall be furnished equivalent to the quarterly subsidy disburseable for the VPTs of all the SSAs in the service area. Initially, the bank gaurantee(s) shall be valid for a period of one year and shall be renewed from year to year.
For BSNL the requirement for submission of PBG has been waived as long as it is a 100% Govt. owned company.