Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], June 6 (ANI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has launched the K-FON project in the state and said that with this project internet for all “has now become a reality.”
The project was launched at R Sankaranarayanan Thampi Hall of the Legislative Assembly on Monday.
According to an official release, the project will initially provide internet access to 100 houses in each legislative assembly constituency of the state.
“K-FON has built-in IT infrastructure capable of setting up 40 lakh internet connections across the state. Consumers can access internet services at a speed starting at 20 Mbps and can avail connections of higher speed based on individual requirements”, the release stated.
Speaking on occasion, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, “Kerala’s dream has now become a reality. We will be providing internet for all with this project launch. We are the first state to declare the internet as a right of the citizens and that doesn’t stay on the paper but we are building it. And we will ensure that it is available to each and everyone.”
The chief minister added that the public sector institutions in the country are being sold to private while in Kerala the digital infrastructure has been boosted through public sectors.
“K-FON is a public sector initiative. This is at a time when the public sector institutions in the country are being sold to private. We know what is happening to BSNL, and the fate of VSNL is also not very different. Now look at LIC they’re trying to sabotage it. Meanwhile, in Kerala the digital infrastructure has been boosted through public sectors which is marking the New Kerala”, the CM said.
At present, K-FON has been successfully installed in 26,492 government offices, of which 17,354 offices have live internet access.
According to the K-FON officials, internet connectivity will be available to all government offices by the end of June as per the provided list.
As of now, K-FON has more than 1000 household subscribers and installation of cables for over 7000 connections has been completed.
On completion of the initial phase of the project by August 2023, the project will be expanded to setting up commercial connections. It is estimated that 2,50,000 commercial connections will be provided in the first year, which could facilitate the project’s profitability. (ANI)