Row over Kerala's K-FON project using Chinese cables

Kerala's much-hyped Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON), launched earlier this week, is caught up in a row over using Chinese cables.

Close on the heels of the Opposition Congress raising the allegations, a letter written by the Kerala State Electricity Board Limited, which is a partner of the project, raising concerns over the quality and price of the optical ground wire (OPGW), has aggravated the row.

Kerala State IT Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL), which is K-FON's implementing agency, has denied the allegations citing that a technical committee comprising central government nominees had cleared it and only the optical fibre component of OPGW was Chinese made.

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The row is over the cables purchased from LS Cable and System. Opposition alleged that the cables supplied were manufactured in China and it was a violation of the tender condition that only equipment manufactured in India should be used.

K-FON authorities said that only 58 percent of the OPGW was manufactured in India. Moreover the Centre, in 2021, had issued orders permitting bidders to procure raw materials from vendors in countries that share borders with India, said a K-FON official.

Union Minister of State for electronics, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, told reporters that it was surprising that a Chinese firm was involved in the project even as there were vendors in India for supplying OPGW. The Kerala government would have to clarify it, he said.

K-FON aims at providing high-speed internet free of cost to 20 lakh financially weak families and at reasonable rates to others. It is a flagship project of the Kerala government that aims at making the internet available to all.

Congress had boycotted the launch of K-FON alleging corruption. But Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had then flayed the Opposition for raising baseless allegations.