The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the amendment of the Telegraph Act giving statutory status to the Universal Service Obligation Fund, which would be used for compensating the non-profitable businesses of telecom service companies like rural telephony.

The government will move a Bill in this regard in the coming session of Parliament, Communications and IT Minister Arun Shourie told reporters in New Delhi after the Cabinet meeting.

With the change in the Act, USO fund would become operational, which in turn would help the telecom companies to roll out services in the rural areas faster.

The USO fund has been created to compensate the telecom companies to undertake rural rollouts which are non-remunerative operations.

As per the New Telecom Policy 1999, the private operators are obliged to offer rural telecom services as part of their licenses.

The Cabinet also approved allocation of Rs 65 crore (Rs 650 million) per year for the Media Lab Asia project, Shourie said, adding that there will be no exclusive relationship with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and that it would be on a project-to-project basis.