Andhra Pradesh: One crore homes to get Internet, rent-free phone service from December 2018

The Andhra Pradesh State Fibernet Limited (APSFL), which is implementing the AP Fibre Grid project, will provide three services at tariffs starting as low as Rs 149 for 5 GB at 15 MBPS speed and 250 TV channels and a free telephone connection.

Describing the services as pioneer projects, Kovind said these would help enhance the quality of life of the people. The President said a cloud-based virtual classroom service will benefit students in rural areas, and the spreading of Internet services would help in health care using tele-medicine. The use of drones would help in getting real-time information, which in turn will help the government and district administrations to improve safety and policing, he said.

After inspecting the real-time governance centre at the Secretariat, the President advised Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to give a presentation at the national level on real-time governance for the benefit of other states.

The APSFL, now the country’s largest state government-owned telecommunication company, has already laid more than 23,000 km of the required 55,000 km of optical fibre cables in 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh.

While the first phase targets households, the second phase envisages connecting all 9,000 gram panchayats from mandal headquarters. Horizontal connectivity from gram panchayats to schools and other educational institutions, primary health centres and government offices will be given through WiFi.

IT Minister N Lokesh Naidu said the fibre grid must be fully utilised in sectors such as education, telemedicine, e-governance, agriculture, rural development and e-commerce. The fibre optic grid is one of the five being established by the Andhra government. The four others are a water grid, gas grid, power grid and road grid.