K-Fon: 7,000 households to get free internet connection next week

Thiruvananthapuram: The first phase of Kerala government's ambitious K-Fon (Kerala Fibre Optic Network) scheme is set to benefit households soon. As part of the initial rollout, nearly 7,000 homes are ready to be connected with fibre-optic lines. 

14,000 households having Below Poverty Line (BPL) ration cards are promised free internet access in the first phase. The state government offices have already been provided with connections.

Next week, service provider Kerala Vision will install modems in the selected households as per the list prepared by the local bodies. The list includes approximately 10,000 people, with ten per cent from each constituency belonging to Scheduled Castes and three per cent belonging to Scheduled Tribes, as per the government's mandate. If Scheduled Tribes households are not available, the quota will be allocated to Scheduled Castes. Similarly, if neither category is available, the connections will be given to households below the poverty line in the general category. The government will pay Rs 124 per connection to the service provider for the installation.

The K-Fon project, which was launched in 2019 and is worth Rs 1,548 crores, aims to lay 2,600 km of optical ground cable across the state of Kerala. Of this, 2,506 km have been covered. It also installed 18,941 km of optical fibre cables out of the total 22,876 km planned. The connections have already been provided to 15,885 government offices out of the targeted 30,000 offices, with nearly 99 percent of the network operating centres already operational.

The K-Fon initiative is a significant step by the Kerala government towards providing free internet access to economically disadvantaged households and government offices, aiming to bridge the digital divide and promote digital inclusion in the state. For the people above the poverty line, it will provide internet at a lower rate.

Kerala has recognised internet connectivity as a right of the citizens.