Assam wants to follow Andhra Pradesh's Fiber Grid project

Visakhapatnam: Assam seems to be going the AP way in providing internet to its citizens. A team from the Assam government comprising senior officials led by its IT minister Kesab Mahanta has been in Vizag since a week to study the functioning of AP FiberNet project.

The team also met Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at Vizag on Thursday and discussed the AP FiberNet project and their plans to introduce such a scheme in their state.

“Our team has studied the AP FiberNet project and is impressed with it. We want to launch a similar project in Assam using the same technology and kind of infrastructure used in AP. We seek the Andhra Pradesh government’s help in this regard,” Mr Mahanta.

The AP government intends to provide internet bandwidth of 10 to 15 mbps speed, telephone connection and cable TV access at Rs 149. In the first phase, that costs around Rs 320 crore. The government used electric poles to run the fiber optic cables. Until now, 9,000 km of optic fiber cable has been laid. AP State FiberNet Ltd (APSFL) has plans to run 22,000 km of cable to connect every household in the 13 districts of AP.

The Assam IT minister also requested Naidu to send a team of officials from APFSL to visit their state to explain about the project to their CM. In Vizag, the team from Assam visited a government high school in Krishna Puram which was connected with FiberNet grid, electronic equipment centre at HB Colony and Network operations centre at AU.