KFON connections to the first set of beneficiaries from this week

The first set of free internet connections for below the poverty line families as part of the State Government’s ambitious Kerala Fibre Optic Network will be provided from this week onwards

The first set of free internet connections for below the poverty line (BPL) families as part of the State Government’s ambitious Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) will be provided from this week onwards. According to KFON sources, the fibre network has already reached 7,050 BPL families across the State. Kerala Vision, the service provider chosen by KFON, will provide modems for these beneficiaries this week.

A total of 100 BPL families in each of the State’s 140 assembly constituencies are being identified in the first phase through the respective local bodies to provide the free internet connection.

“Till date, KFON has received a list of 9,558 beneficiaries submitted by various local bodies from across the State. Out of this, the fibre network has now reached 7,050 homes. We are working towards providing them modems and making the connections active this week. The KFON network has also reached 16,738 government offices, with the Secretariat being one of those. While some offices have already shifted to the KFON network, some others are in the process of doing the same,” said a top KFON official.

The KFON project aims at providing connections to 20 lakh BPL households in the State, in a bid to ensure universal Internet access and to address the problem of digital divide. The previous Left Democratic Front government had declared Internet connection as a basic right, when the ₹1,548-crore KFON project was launched in 2019. The government will provide Kerala Vision, the service provider that was chosen from among six contenders, an amount of ₹124 per connection per month.

Last month, the State Cabinet approved the recommendations of a six-member committee which was appointed to study possibilities of monetising the network. The KFON will adopt a proprietor model by which the management responsibilities will remain with it, while outsourcing the other functions.

While the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL) needs to ensure that the agencies to provide LAN and WiFi networks in government offices are empanelled, the KFON will have to ensure the operation and maintenance of the optical network terminal to provide internet connection to the offices through the system integrator Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). Instead of the government offices paying separately for the internet services, the government will pay the bills for all the offices as quarterly payments.