Explained | How KFON aims to bridge the digital divide in Kerala Premium

The launch of the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) on June 5 by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is expected to eventually ensure universal Internet access — a necessity in the post-pandemic world

The story so far: On November 7, 2019, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala announced that Internet connection would be a basic right in the State, becoming the first State in the country to do so. The declaration came three years after the United Nations had passed a resolution recognising Internet access as a basic human right.

The Kerala government’s announcement was accompanied by a detailed plan to ensure that it would become a ground reality, with the setting up of the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON), through which Internet connections would be provided free of cost to 20 lakh below-poverty-line (BPL) families. The project is aimed at ensuring universal Internet access and narrowing the digital divide, which has become especially acute after the COVID-19 outbreak. When online classes became the norm, many students were left in the lurch without connectivity or digital devices, leading to the State’s local bodies launching initiatives to provide devices and organise community screening of classes.

In addition to domestic connections, close to 30,000 government institutions, including offices, educational institutions and hospitals would also be provided with KFON connections. After initial hiccups, the first phase of the project is nearing completion, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan set to commission it on June 5, 2023, at the R. Sankaranarayanan Thampi Hall of the Legislative Assembly.

The Kerala government’s role involves setting up the vast infrastructure required for providing Internet even to the remotest corners of the State. The network has reached remote locations, including tribal hamlets in Wayanad and elsewhere, which had remained out of the information superhighway until now. The cabling works, stretching to 34,961 km, piggybacks on the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB)‘s existing infrastructure. KFON Limited is, in fact, a joint venture of the KSEB and the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd (KSITIL).

In July 2022, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) granted KFON an infrastructure provider (IP) licence and also approved it as an internet service provider (ISP). After a tendering process, the KFON shortlisted six internet service providers, with the government providing it an amount of ₹124 per connection per month.

In the first phase, it was aimed to provide Internet connections to 14,000 BPL families, with 100 each from the State’s 140 assembly constituencies. The panchayats and the urban local bodies were given the responsibility of choosing the beneficiaries. But the process of selection has been slow, with many local bodies delaying the submission of a list of beneficiaries from their area. As of now, Internet connection has been provided to 7,000 BPL families across the State. The process of identifying the remaining beneficiaries will continue. Each household will get 1.5 GB of data per day at 15 Mbps speed.

The free Internet connections for BPL families and the connections to government institutions is just one part of the ₹1,548-crore KFON project, while the rest of the network will be monetised. The State government in 2022 constituted a committee headed by the Chief Secretary to study the possibilities of monetising the network. About 22 of a total of 48 fibres will be used for the network’s own operations. The KSEB will also be using some. The rest can be leased out, Santhosh Babu, Managing Director, KFON, had earlier told The Hindu.