Explaining the funding and other details, Naidu said, “For this total cost of Rs 320 crore, the government of Andhra Pradesh is providing some money while the rest is being raised through borrowings”. Cisco is the technology partner in the project.
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The Chief Minister met aero industrialists and manufacturers who were here to participate in India Aviation Expo this evening and discussed the possibility of developing aviation industry in Andhra Pradesh, a release from the Chief Minister’s Office said.
Implementation of provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act-2014, and also the assurances given by the then Prime Minister in Rajya Sabha, were a matter of “life and death” for people of the state, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Wednesday, even as the AP Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution requesting the Centre to expedite the implementation process. This was announced by the Andhra government on Thursday, March 17, in Visakhapatnam, where the phase one was launched to provide connectivity in three districts – Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram of Andhra Padesh.
American tech giant Cisco said it has partnered with the Andhra Pradesh government to design and implement a broadband project in the state.
Cisco will also invest in an advanced Technology Center of Excellence and Research Lab in the Institute of Digital Technology (IDT), Tirupati, focused on cyber security, smart city and manufacturing solutions. Naidu offered a peek into the rates by mentioning that a 15 MBPS connection could cost up to as less as ₹ 149 per month for household connections and a 100 MBPS connection would cost ₹ 999 per month for business connections.
The MoU between Cisco and the government of Andhra Pradesh was signed here for the project, which is India’s first statewide broadband project.
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Through this post, I also thank Cisco’s executive chairman John Chambers for identifying Andhra Pradesh as a pioneer in digital connectivity. Andhra Pradesh is a blueprint for a digital state for other states to follow. “Digital transformation [is] the most transformative means to ignite sustainable growth and improve society”.
