Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Kochi-Lakshadweep Islands submarine optical fibre connection (KLI-SOFC). The project is expected to increase the internet speed by over 100 times, from 1.7Gbps to 200Gbps. The total link distance under KLI-SOFC is 1,868 km. With the launch of the project, submarine cable connectivity has been extended from Mainland (Kochi) to eleven Lakshadweep Islands namely, Kavaratti, Agatti, Amini, Kadmat, Chetlet, Kalpeni, Minicoy, Androth, Kiltan, Bangaram and Bitra.
The project, announced in August 2020, is funded by Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF), Department of Telecommunications, with a total cost of Rs 10.72 billion plus taxes. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was the project executing agency.
The project is expected to play a significant role in achieving the objective of Digital India and National Broadband Mission and for rolling out of various e-governance projects of the central government in Lakshadweep Islands. High speed broadband will be provided through fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and 5G/4G mobile network. The bandwidth created under this project will be available to all telecom service providers to strengthen their telecom services in the Lakshadweep Islands. The dedicated submarine OFC will enable faster and more reliable internet services, telemedicine, e-governance, educational initiatives, digital banking, digital currency usage, digital literacy, among others, in Lakshadweep.
