With a vision to connect the rural masses, the government will set up 10,000 telecom towers across the country this fiscal with financial support from the USO Fund, a corpus for providing affordable telephone services in rural areas.

Addressing both the houses of parliament on the first day of the budget session, President Pratibha Patil said, "The government has already initiated action to set up 10,000 towers in 2010-11 for connecting remote areas across the country."

Patil said the government was committed to the goal of extending the benefits of the modern communication facilities to rural areas.

She further added that financial support was provided from the USO Fund to provide infrastructure for rural connectivity.

The Universal Service Obligation Fund was established in 2002 to provide telecommunication services to people in the rural and remote areas at affordable and reasonable prices.