By: PTI
PINARAYI Vijayan, the chief minister of the southern Indian state of Kerala, on Thursday (14) said the state has now become the first and only in the country to have its own internet service.
The announcement came in the wake of the Kerala Fiber Optic Network Ltd (KFON), an ambitious IT infrastructure project of the government to make the internet accessible to everyone in the state, receiving the Internet Service Provider (ISP) license from the country’s department of telecommunications.
With this, the project envisaged to bridge the digital divide in the society, can commence its operations, Vijayan said.
“Kerala becomes the only State in the country with its own internet service. The Kerala Fiber Optic Network Ltd has received the ISP license from @DoT_India. Now, our prestigious #KFON project can kickstart its operations of providing the internet as a basic right to our people,” the chief minister tweeted.
Kerala becomes the only State in the country with its own internet service. The Kerala Fiber Optic Network Ltd has received the ISP license from @DoT_India. Now, our prestigious #KFON project can kickstart its operations of providing internet as a basic right to our people. pic.twitter.com/stGPI4O1X6
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) July 14, 2022
The KFON scheme is envisaged to provide free internet to BPL families and 30,000 government offices.
The state’s previous Left government had in 2019 declared internet connection as a basic right and launched the KFON project worth ₹1,548 crore (£164 million).