The rollout of Arasu Fibre, a scheme aimed at bringing internet access to even the most remote parts of the State, is likely to be postponed by at least a year. The scheme was one among the campaign promises of the AIADMK during the 2016 Assembly polls.
The ruling party had initially proposed to launch Arasu Fibre in collaboration with cable operators across the State, making use of their last-mile connectivity. But now, it is learnt that the scheme would be launched only after the rollout of the Centre’s BharatNet across Tamil Nadu.
As on date, Arasu Fibre has 84 partners across the State, with a subscriber base of just over 5,100 households. Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd. (TACTV), the implementing authority of the scheme, had in 2016 invited young entrepreneurs and entities to participate in the scheme, following a lukewarm response to its plan to rope in cable operators.
Adding to its woes was the inavailability of sufficient bandwidth from Vodafone, TACTV’s partner in implementing the scheme . This meant the internet service could be provided only in the areas where the telecom firm’s towers were present.
Sources said Arasu Fibre, which had promised internet access at prices ranging from ₹299 to ₹899, would be rolled out only after optical fibre cables under BharatNet were laid across the State.
BharatNet aims to provide 100 MBPS broadband connectivity to gram panchayats across the country. Tamil Nadu is one of the last States to implement the scheme. Last October, the Tamil Nadu government was sanctioned ₹1,230 crore by the Centre to implement the project.
It is learnt that tenders calling for system integrators to lay fibre cables connecting gram panchayats would be issued soon. “Once the work order is issued to the successful bidder, they [the bidder] may take 12 months or more to complete the task, following which this optical fibre network could be used to roll out Arasu Fibre,” a source said.
BharatNet, once implemented, is likely to act as the backbone for Arasu Fibre.
