KSEB rejects objections against KFON

Board says KSERC stand will hit move to provide Internet access to 20 lakh indigent households

The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has taken strong exception to the objections raised by the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) in implementing the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) project and cautioned it against frustrating the government’s intention to provide free Internet to 20 lakh indigent households.

The commission, in a suo moto order had questioned the decision to use the board’s right of way of the transmission and distribution network for the project which targets to provide free internet to 20 lakh indigent households and also at a rational rate to 30,000 government offices and educational institutions.

A board letter to the commission past week, accessed by

The Hindu , says that the order which sought to stall the project aimed at empowering the underprivileged would only leave them at the “mercy of competing predators.”

The government had launched online classes for students from Monday and there was a clamour from across the Sate to provide Internet to the impoverished students in remote hamlets.

Joint venture

The commission order was issued 21 months after the formation of a joint venture company with the equity participation of the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited, the KSEB and the government in the ratio 49:49:2. The board had intimated the commission about the details of the project too.

The order issued after a lapse of 21 months, “after such serious procrastination can prove lethal to projects of public importance,” the letter says.

The board also rejected the commission’s contentions that its prior approval was imperative while engaging in businesses other than power generation using its assets.

Ownership

The board reiterated that the transmission and distribution network will be under its ownership and complete control and would not be in jeopardy as sounded by the commission. The joint venture pact does not put the board to any financial liability, the letter says.

Moreover, the KSEB is already earning substantial non-tariff revenue by permitting several players for using its right of way as envisaged for KFON and that revenue is being used to offset the burden on retail tariff.

Still it has consented to file a petition as desired by the commission within a reasonable time.