Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday commissioned India’s first hi-speed rural broadband network in Kerala’s Idukki district, calling the project a “giant leap” to bridge the digital divide in the country.
“NOFN (National Optical Fibre Network) project is a giant leap in order to bridge the digital divide in India by linking all gram panchayats through the common platform of optical fibre cable. I extend my complete support to this project and I am proud to be a part of this new digital journey in India’s history,” said IT minister.
Idukki is a hilly district with eight block offices and fifty three gram panchayats out of which eight offices and fifty two gram panchayats have been connected by optical fibre and the one gram panchayat is connected via VSAT.
The establishment of NOFN would open up new avenues for Access service providers such as Telecom Service Providers, Internet Service Providers, cable TV operators, content providers etc. to launch next generation services and spur creation of local employment opportunities in a big way.
NOFN is set to link 600 million rural citizens of India across 2.5 lakh gram panchayats of India spread over 6,600 blocks and 631 districts through broadband optical fibre network.
The government expects to connect 20,000 villages across the country through optic fibre by the end of March. Kerala is scheduled to become fully digitally connected by end-March. The telecom department had advanced the deadline for digitally connecting the entire country to December 2016 from March 2017.