Idukki in Kerala becomes first district in India to achieve complete rural broadband coverage

Idukki in Kerala has become the first district in India to be connected with high speed broadband for all the areas of the district with the commissioning of the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) covering the entire district.

Minister for communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated the launch of the high speed broadband for the entire Idukki district of Kerala on Tuesday.

Currently, the district has a total of eight block offices and 53 gram panchayats of which eight block offices and 52 gram panchayats have been connected on optical fibre and one gram panchayat, Edamalakudy, is connected through VSAT.

Edamalakudy, is a tribal gram panchayat consisting of 26 tribal villages with around 2,200 people. It is remotely located around 18 km from Pettimudi, which is the last point one can travel to in a vehicle.

BSNL has made exceptional efforts in connecting this gram panchayat and now broadband internet as well as mobile services are also available here.

For the first time all villages under this panchayat would be connected through mobile phones and internet.

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 to launch next generation services and spur creation of local employment opportunities in a big way, the minister said.