Kerala becomes first state to have its own internet service

Kerala has become the first and the only state in the country to have its own internet service. The announcement came in the wake of the Kerala Fibre Optic Network Limited (K-FON) receiving the internet service provider (ISP) licence from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

K-FON is an ambitious information technology (IT) infrastructure project of the government to make the internet accessible to everyone in the state. Having obtained ISP licence from the DoT, the project envisaged to bridge the digital divide in the society, can commence its operations in the state. The KFON scheme also aims at providing free internet to below poverty line (BPL) families and 30,000 government offices.