Telangana's Information Technology and Industry Minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday directed the officials to complete the T-Fiber project within the next 10 months. The T-Fiber project aims to provide affordable and high-speed broadband connectivity across 83.58 lakh households in the state.
At a review meeting, the minister directed officials to speed up the on-ground project execution.
The minister, while setting the 10-month deadline, also instructed officials to bring all existing network infrastructure and the State Data Center under T-Fiber.
L&T Infotech, Sterlite Technologies Ltd and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) are the system integrators for the project, which is to be executed with an investment of Rs 1,200 crore.
Minister KT Rama Rao, who is the chairman of the Telangana Fiber Grid Corporation, said T-Fiber network once completed, will help transform the delivery of government-to-government and government-to-citizen services across the state, especially in rural areas by connecting government institutions, enterprises and households.
The project announced in 2016 began work only in 2018 and has faced delays over tendering ever since. The project began with a funding of Rs 254.17 crore from the state in 2018. This year, it received Rs 1,243 crore under Phase 2 of the BharatNet programme, a hi-speed rural broadband network project of the Centre.
While Phase 2 of the BharatNet programme aims to cover only 6,657 gram panchayats across Telangana, the state government aims to cover all 12,751-gram panchayats through its T-Fiber project.
The minister stated that digital infrastructure is proving to be a game-changer in the fight against COVID-19. The importance of a robust digital infrastructure once again validated in the form of increased demand for online education, work from home, online healthcare and e-commerce services during the current pandemic.
KTR directed the T-Fiber team to connect Rythu Vedikas coming up in the state. He said this would enable the vision of the Chief Minister to bring all the farmers in the state to come under one roof to discuss, interact and exchange of ideas with ministers and government officials through video conferencing. Farmers can also benefit as they will have better access to prices and other marketing information at their fingertips.
He said that the potential of T-Fiber network once ready will be enormous in delivering the citizen services across the state.
KTR has also directed the officials to include all municipal corporations and municipalities in the scope of T-Fiber.