Idukki in Kerala became first District of India to have Complete Rural Broadband Coverage

Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology on 12 January 2015 linked Idukki district in Kerala to the National Optic Fiber Network (NOFN). The district was linked to the NOFN as part of the Digital India project of the Union government.

The district was commissioned with the first high speed rural broadband of India. With this, Idukki district became first district of India to have complete rural broadband coverage.

As part of it, 8 Block Offices & 52 Gram Panchayats of the Idukki district were connected on Optical Fiber and one Gram Panchayat, namely Edamalakudy, was connected through VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal).

The rural broadband connectivity to the Gram Panchayat of Idukki is being provided by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). For the first time the villages under this Panchayat would be connected through Mobile phones and internet.

Benefits

• The establishment of NOFN would open up new avenues for Access service providers such as Telecom Service Providers, Internet Service Providers, and Cable TV operators, Content Providers etc.

• The project would offer internet at a bandwidth of 100 Mpbs.

• This will also enable delivery of various services such as local planning, management, monitoring and payments under Government schemes at panchayat level.

About National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN)

The National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) is a project to provide broadband connectivity to over two lakh Gram panchayats of India at a cost of 20000 crore rupees.

A special purpose vehicle Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) was created as a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Companies Act of 1956 for the execution of the project.

The project provides internet access using existing optical fiber and extending it to the Gram panchayats. The project was intended to enable the government of India to provide e-services and e-applications nationally.

The project is funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) and was estimated to be completed in 2 years.