Kerala plans to become the first Indian state to take broadband internet connectivity to all villages across the state under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN).
By Shaju Philip
After the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the state envisaged to complete the project by March, 2015, to become the first state to achieve high speed net connectivity in all panchayats.
The government would ensure land for laying the optical fibre cable and provide necessary space in all panchayat offices for establishing the network, he said.
The Kerala leg of the NOFN would further require a cable network of 8,00 km and so far 150 km of cable has been already laid. Broadband internet facility is already available in many villages in the state. Kerala has 978 village panchayats in the three-tier local governing system.
A project of Rs 20,000 crore, NOFN envisages to link all village panchayats in the country.