LIRNEasia‘s next colloquium is on May 20th at 6:00PM SL Time/2:00PM Copenhagen/10:00PM Canberra/Singapore 8:00PM/5:30PM India/6:00PM Bangladesh/09:00AM Montevideo at LIRNEasia’s premises (SLIDA Campus, 28/10 Malasekera Mawatha) and via live blogging on this web site. Payal Malik & Harsha De Silva will present their progress on the research project titled Diversifying Participation in Network Development: Moving Beyond the Market which is being conducted under this year’s WDR theme–Diversifying Participation in Network Development. The researchers will present their preliminary findings from their review of the current subsidy mechanism for expansion of rural telephony in India. This mechanism is implemented through two instruments: (a)Access Deficit Charge (ADC), which is a surcharge on Interconnection fees to compensate the [primarily] the incumbent for below cost regulated tariffs in the rural areas and; (b) Universal Service Fund (USF), a fund created through a statute to finance network expansion in net high cost rural areas. The disbursement from this fund is made through a competitive least-cost subsidy mechanism.