Kerala Govt Opting For Chinese Optical Fibre Cables When Indian Made Cables Are Available, Says Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekar

Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has questioned the Kerala government's decision to employ Chinese-made cable or optical fibre for the Kerala Fibre Option Network (K-FON) project.

In a statement on Friday, he demanded an explanation from the state government as to why they are not opting for domestic products and whether any pressure was involved in this decision.

The minister raised questions on why the Kerala government has imported the optical fibre from China when the product was readily available in India.

The KFON project, a collaborative effort between the Kerala State Electricity Board and Kerala State IIT Infrastructure Limited, aimed to provide internet connectivity to the entire state as well as free internet to BPL families, but failed to comply with regulations as it made use of cables originating from China.

According to the minister, the issue does not stem from any bias against a particular country or source of equipment, but rather concerns the upholding of a trusted source framework across the country.

In response to the dispute between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh last year, the Indian Centre introduced a national security directive for the telecom sector.

The directive proposed using "trusted products" from "trusted sources" for telecommunication services. Moreover, it was reported that the project tender required the use of products designed and tested within India under the 'Make In India' initiative.