High-speed internet for 50K TN offices, schools
Stating that the project is divided into four packages, the official said the project will cover Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Krishnagiri, Chengalpattu, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai.
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government will extend last-mile high-speed internet connectivity to government institutions — including schools, health centres, anganwadis, police stations, post offices and ration shops — in more than 12,000 grama panchayats across the State. The scheme is part of the BharatNet project, initiated by the Union government and funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
The scheme will be implemented through Tamil Nadu FibreNet Corporation (TANFINET), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by the state government to implement the BharatNet project, a common platform for providing several services, including e-governance, e-health, e-commerce, e-banking and video on demand.
A senior official from the IT department told DT Next that the project envisages providing high-speed broadband connectivity to 12,525 grama panchayats through Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) from blocks. “As part of the BharatNet project, the OFCs are currently laid from block to gram panchayats through aerial and underground mode,” he added.
Stating that the project is divided into four packages, the official said the project will cover Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Krishnagiri, Chengalpattu, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai.
“The second package will cover Cuddalore, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Dharmapuri, Kallakurichi, Salem, Erode, The Nilgiris and Villupurum,” he said adding “the third one will have Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Pudukottai, Namakkal, Karur, Coimbatore, Tirupur and Tiruchy”.
Pointing out that package four will cover Kanniyakumari, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Theni, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar, Tenkasi and Dindigul, the official said it was estimated that around 25,000 km of fibre would be laid to accomplish the connectivity to around 50,000 locations in as many as 12,525 grama panchayats.
Claiming that the state government has already invested in making available the network in rural and remote areas through BharatNet, he said that identification of schools, health centres, anganwadis, police stations, post offices and ration shops for the project is underway.
