Kerala Government finally announced Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) in the state. As the name itself suggests, KFON is the government’s initiative to provide high-speed and affordable internet to every household in Kerala. As part of this project, more than 30,000 government institutions will be enabled with high-speed internet. KFON will provide broadband speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced earlier today. The project has been in the works since 2019. It is a joint venture between Kerala State IT Infrastructure Limited and Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). KFON will make use of KSEB’s vast network across the state and a special operating centre will be set up in Ernakulam.
Kerala Government Says Affordable Internet for All With KFON
In recent times, we have seen a lot of state governments launching a fibre optic network. In Telangana, the government has T-Fiber while in Andhra Pradesh, there’s AP-Fiber. State governments are launching these initiatives to provide affordable broadband across the country. As noted, KFON is a project jointly developed by Kerala State IT Infrastructure Limited and KSEB. Kerala CM said KFON would provide free internet connectivity to 20 lakh BPL families and 14 districts will be covered as part of this project. KFON will also help the government provide high-speed internet across 30,000 government institutions. The Chief Minister also said KFON would ‘revolutionise the digital space.’ As noted, KFON will leverage KSEB’s infrastructure to set up a core ring and a 35,000-kilometre-long optic fibre network is being laid. He also added that this optic fibre would be the largest network once laid. KFON solves the major concern of villages not getting high-speed internet because private service providers are most interested in delivering internet services in major cities. With KFON, any service provider will make use of the network and deliver speeds even in villages ranging from 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps. As of this writing, the Kerala Government did not reveal the plans’ prices, but we are expecting them to be on the affordable side.
