Net connection to 14,000 BPL households and 30,000 govt. places of work within the State
Net connection to 14,000 BPL households and 30,000 govt. places of work within the State
The Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) has shortlisted six web service suppliers to supply web connection to 14,000 under the poverty line (BPL) households and 30,000 authorities places of work within the State. KFON is ready for Internet Service Provider (ISP) license from the Department of Telecommunications to go forward with its plan to supply the primary section of connections by June finish.
Santhosh Babu, Managing Director, KFON informed The Hindu that the businesses have quoted excellent costs per connection. The State authorities can be footing this invoice as a part of its challenge to supply free web connections to BPL households.
“Eight companies responded to our call and six of them have now qualified. The government had earlier instructed to go ahead with the connections once we secure an ISP license. We have applied for the same. The process is expected to be completed in the next few days. The company which has quoted the lowest amount is ready to provide connections in almost all areas, as their pricing is based on volumes. We need to see whether there are areas which are difficult to provide connections for some service providers,” stated Mr.Babu.
Installation of mandatory infrastructure has been accomplished in 23,091 out of the 30,000 authorities establishments, together with places of work, instructional establishments and hospitals, which will even get connections within the first section. The places of work can be linked to the Network Operation Centre in Kalamassery by way of 375 Points of Presence (POPs), that are full-fledged nodal IT infrastructure put in inside the KSEB substations in every space.
A complete of 100 BPL households in every of the State’s 140 meeting constituencies are being recognized within the first section by way of the respective native our bodies to supply the free web connection. The KFON challenge goals at offering connections to twenty lakh BPL households within the State, in a bid to make sure common Internet entry and deal with the issue of digital divide. The earlier Left Democratic Front authorities had declared Internet connection as a fundamental proper, when the ₹1,548-crore KFON challenge was launched in 2019.
The authorities can be subsidising the web price for BPL households. Internet providers at reasonably priced charges to most people will even be made out there within the second section onwards.
Source: www.thehindu.com
