President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurates Andhra Pradesh Fibre Grid project

President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday inaugurated the Andhra Pradesh Fibre Grid project, aimed at providing high-speed internet service to every household in the state at a nominal rate, an official said on Tuesday.

The project also aims to ensure every household in the state has access to cable television and telephone connections.

"Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed his happiness that his dream of providing internet, television and telephone services to the common man at a very nominal price is being realised," the media adviser to energy, infrastructure and investment department, A Chandrasekhar Reddy, said in a press release.

Naidu, however, has emphasised on providing connections to 30 lakh households by 2019, the media adviser said.

Termed Triple Play2 Services by technology experts, the fibre grid project envisages provision of internet, television and telephone services to more than one lakh households in the state at a nominal price of Rs 149 each per month, Reddy said.

"While the internet services would be available at a very high speed of 15Mbps to 100Mbps, the television services would provide infotainment with 250 plus channels, and the telephone services would be completely rental-free. It is going to herald a unique technology revolution in the state," he said.

Through the fibre grid, the AP government would provide state-wide surveillance, using more than 20,000 closed-circuit cameras and 16 integrated district command control and data centres, he said.

"It will power digital classrooms in over 4,000 government schools and offer telemedicine services at over 6,000 public health centres. It will power the smart cities initiative," he said.

It has also been proposed to set up cloud-based virtual classroom systems using the fibre grid to enhance learning skills and knowledge through qualitative digital and multimedia content in 4,678 government high schools across AP in a phased manner, Reddy said.

PTI