Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala cabinet has given in-principle approval to provide internet connectivity in tribal settlements in various parts of the state.
The government will give land to set up telecom towers, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed on Wednesday.
He said in areas where towers cannot be put up or cables cannot be laid, internet facilities would be provided via very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) technology.
VSAT is a two-way satellite ground station with a dish antenna used for narrow band and broadband data transmission and communications.
Vijayan said where internet cables would be extended to tribal areas using infrastructure, like poles and other structures, of KSEB, PWD or local bodies, no charges would be levied for the same by these authorities.
BSNL employees chip in
Fifty students in Ponnankayam tribal settlement have got internet access thanks to the support of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BNSL) employees in Kozhikode.
Lack of internet connectivity has hampered the education of these students at the hamlet in Thiruvambady gram panchayat after the schools shifted to online teaching mode in the wake of COVID-19.
The BSNL employees' collective at Kozhikode, Sports and Cultural Board, has borne the expenses for providing connectivity using optical fibre cable.
BSNL officials handed over the documents of the project to district collector N Tej Lohit Reddy on Wednesday.
