KOCHI: The Kerala government’s prestigious KFON project is stuck with the delay on the part of the LSG department in selecting the beneficaries for the free internet connections to poor families. It is learnt that there is lack of clarity on the criteria for selecting beneficiaries.
As per the government plan, 100 BPL families each from 140 assembly constituencies will be selected for the free internet connection in the first phase. Sources said the delay on the part of the LSG department is due to the difficulty in choosing from several eligible families in an area for free connection. “There are chances of controversies if one family is chosen over another eligible family,” said the source.
Kerala is the only state in the country that aims to provide free, high-speed internet to schools, public offices, and poor households. Meanwhile, KFON has provided internet connections to 27,000 government offices, including hospitals and educational institutions.
“We can go up to 37,500 institutions now. The existing devices have to be IP configured and for that, we require more technically capable people,” said KFON managing director Santhosh Babu. He said KFON, which received the Internet Service Provider (ISP) licence from the Department of Telecommunications in July, has been subjected to “unfair reporting by vested interests” stating that “our office is closed.
Such reports are laughable, he said. “KFON is complementary not competitive to other ISPs,” said Babu, former IT principal secretary of Tamil Nadu who took charge as KFON MD last October.
50% fibre to be leased out
“We have laid optical fibre cable for about 30,000kms across the state. In comparison, Reliance Jio has a cable network for 9,000kms,” Santhosh Babu said. Out of 30,000km of fibre that is laid for the project, 50% would be leased out to telecom service providers and cable TV operators on a non-discriminatory basis. The KFON project is executed through a 50-50 special purpose vehicle between KSEB and Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd (KSITIL).
The plan is to to provide free internet access to 20 lakh BPL families. The state government will pay for them. KFON’s service is also available for others at affordable rates.