Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday launched the government’s prestigious fibre optics network, the K-FON. It is a government-owned project that will offer free broadband services to the poor and affordable internet connectivity to all others in the state. The CM officially inaugurated the project at the Sankaranarayanan Thampi Hall of the Legislative Assembly at 4 pm.
CM started his speech by saying ‘And we’ve achieved this too’. ‘When we announced the internet will be made available to all, many thought it was only a dream. But we have realised it’, he said. The project aims to provide internet connection to 20 lakh poor families in the state for free and to others at affordable rates. Besides, internet connectivity would be extended to 30,000 government institutions, including schools, hospitals, and offices.
Following its scheduled launch on Monday, the KFON app will be made available on the Google Play Store and App Store. To avail of a new internet connection, one has to install the app, select the ‘new customer’ option and fill in the required details to register. They will be soon contacted by the Business Support Centre and local network providers will be entrusted to provide the connection. Government claimed K-FON is the biggest internet service provider in Kerala with around 30,000 km of fibre which was laid in association with the Kerala State Electricity Board Limited. There are around 14,000 ration shops, over 2,000 SupplyCo outlets, and other state-run institutions like Kerala Bank, which the K-FON company considers as revenue-generating offices where connections will be given on a commercial basis.
K-FON MD and former IAS officer Santhosh Babu said the government aims to provide free broadband services to 20 lakh economically backward families in Kerala. K-Fon will complement the existing telecom ecosystem in the state. As part of the initial phase, the Local Self Government Department has selected 14,000 households from the 140 Assembly constituencies in the state, to whom free internet services will be provided. Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON), an initiative of the Left government in Kerala, is expected to bridge the digital divide and empower marginalised sections of society. The government aims at ushering in a digital revolution, bringing about transformative changes and opening up new avenues for social and economic development through K-FON, Babu said.
Free internet service connection has already been given to over 17,280 government offices across Kerala, while the state secretariat and 10 district collectorates are already functioning using K-FON. As part of the initial phase, K-FON plans to give internet connections to an estimated 30,000 government offices in the state and free broadband connections to 14,000 economically backward households in Kerala. The implementation of the project, with an estimated cost of over Rs 1,500 crore, is funded by the government and KIIFB but the operations and management will have to be dealt with by K-FON itself.
Post Your Comments