Kerala becomes India's first state with own internet service

Indian state Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the state has now become the first and only state in the country to have its own internet service.

The announcement came in the wake of the Kerala Fiber Optic Network Ltd, an ambitious IT infrastructure project of the government to make the internet accessible to everyone in the state, report Indian media NDTV.

"Kerala becomes the only state in the country with its own internet service. The Kerala Fiber Optic Network Ltd has received the ISP license from @DoT_India. Now, our prestigious #KFON project can kickstart its operations of providing the internet as a basic right to our people," Mr Vijayan tweeted.

The KFON scheme is envisaged to provide free internet to BPL families and 30,000 government offices.

The previous government had in 2019 declared internet connection as a basic right and launched the Rs 1,548 crore KFON project.