In the era of Global Village, it is important to bring the World Wide Web home to each and every citizen. In order to fulfill this aim and to make Kerala a completely connected state the Government has embarked upon a project to provide free high speed internet connection to over 20 lakh Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.
The Rs.1,548crore Kerala-Fiber Optic Network (K-Fon) project is scheduled to be completed by December 2020 and will be built by a group led by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
KFON forms an essential part of the Kerala government’s ambitious plan to provide Internet connection to BPL families, government offices, hospitals and schools. About 2,000 WiFi hotspots across the state help connected-users in schools, hospitals, offices and houses.
For last-mile connectivity, the fibre network will use the electricity network of KSEB and the existing cable television networks, which has a presence in 95 households in Kerala, according to KFON estimates. KFON will then collaborate with internet service providers to relay internet over the fibre network. The pilot phase of the project, between the state-run IT hub ‘Technopark’ and a KFON centre in Trivandrum district, will begin in some weeks, said the government.
The optical fibre cables for the project were recently imported from the US and a facility in Chennai has started quality testing and colour coding.
Financed by the KIIFB, the programme is aimed at giving a push to the digitisation of government services such as the e-health programmes, IT parks, airports and seaports. It will also provide Net connectivity at affordable rate for families which do not fall in the BPL bracket.
KFON is a joint venture of the state’s power utility, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), and the public sector information technology (IT) arm, Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd, according to a statement released by the government. The plan is to establish a new optic fibre network, and Wi-Fi transmission centres across the state, according to the statement.
The network, once built, will be open to utilisation for licensed Internet service providers and cable TV operators. Mobile towers will also be linked to provide faster mobile internet services.
Kerala had emerged as first ‘Digital State’ in the country, a feat realised through the visionary measures of the Government to open up the doors of digital literacy to its citizens to make God’s own country the first ‘e-literate’ State, through launching the Akshaya Project and IT@School programme way back in 2002.
The proactive policy of the State Government in allowing the telecom service providers to network the State through Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) has enabled its citizens to get online, both through broadband and mobile. Kerala had established its first State Data Centre (SDC) in 2005 to deliver e-Governance services. This was further strengthened with the setup of second SDC in 2011, which is offering industry leading cloud infrastructure and enhancement to core connectivity infrastructure such as the Kerala State Wide Area Network, the National Optical Fiber Network and the National Knowledge Network.
