Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) under Department of Telecommunications (DoT), signed a tripartite pact with Prasar Bharati, under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, and Open Network for Digital Commerce,under Ministry of Commerce & Industry, to proliferate affordable and accessible digital services across the country.

The objective of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) is to bundle broadband services with OTT and e-commerce platforms for rural India riding on BharatNet infrastructure under the USOF, a government statement said yesterday.

The Prime Minister’s vision and unwavering commitment to foster a conducive environment for digital innovation underpins this truly unique collaboration synergizing connectivity, content and commerce to empower rural India, it added.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Dr Neeraj Mittal, Secretary Telecom; Niraj Verma, Administrator, USOF; T Koshy, MD & CEO, ONDC; A K Jha, ADG, Platforms, Prasar Bharati and Sunil Kumar Verma, Joint Secretary, DoT.

The USOF has been instrumental in enabling high-speed broadband and mobile connections across gram panchayats (GPs or village administrations) and villages in the country.

This pact, the government elaborated, will enable bundling of Prasar Bharati services as an over-the-top (OTT) offering to consumers, including linear channels, live TV and on-demand content, while USOF will ensure efficient and high-speed broadband services in rural and remote areas.

The national public service broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, with an unparalleled legacy content, consumer reach and brand recall, will source and produce content that will run on its OTT platform.

In addition, the ONDC, a leading player in digital infrastructure, will provide the technical expertise and necessary framework in enabling digital commerce in products and services. This will be expanded to cover more services like education, health, training, credit, insurance, agriculture amongst others, the government added.