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In a bid to provide statewide broadband connectivity at a cheap rate, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched the first phase of Fiber Grid project on Thursday.

An MoU was signed between Andhra Pradesh government and IT giant Cisco as part of the inauguration of AP FiberNet, which is India’s first statewide broadband project in Visakhapatnam.

This is a milestone project under which internet connections at cheap rate will be provided in the districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagram by April.  The rest of the state will be covered by the end of July this year. Broadband connections of 15Mbps will be provided to households at Rs 149 per month, whereas, offices will get 100Mbps connection at Rs 999 per month. These services will be provided by overhead fibre net cables running through electrical poles instead of underground cable.

Smart India
With the rise of smartphone market in India, the percentage of internet using population has increased to 33.22 in 2016, which was 15.1 in 2013. The Digital India campaign is making remarkable strides as the country have more number of internet users than the U.S. This initiative taken up by the Andhra Pradesh government is expected to further increase the number of internet users and enable statewide digital literacy.

The Logical Indian commends the Andhra Pradesh government for the initiative. Internet connectivity not only speedens up information dissemination but also is vital in connecting people,  exploiting and creating opprtunities. We request other state governments to take steps to imporve access of internet to the people at cheaper rates so that the maximum people could avail the benefits of Internet