Kerala is well placed to realise its vision of being the first digital society of the country with proactive measures of the State Government to digitally empower the citizens.
The visionary policies and projects are transforming the State into digital empowered society and knowledge economy, taking forward the vision of ‘Digital India’.
To make God’s own country the first ‘e-literate’ State, the State Government opened up the doors of digital literacy to its citizens with the launch of Akshaya and IT@School projects in 2002.
The proactive policy of the State Government in allowing the telecom service providers to network the State through OFC has enabled its citizens to get online, both through broadband and mobile.
Moreover, the State Data Centre was established in 2005 to deliver various government services through e-governance, at a time when most of the States had not even thought of it.
According to the State Government, Kerala has the highest mobile penetration with more than 31 million connections for a population of 33 million, with a rapid increase in the usage of smart phones. It also has high internet penetration, covering about 20% of the households through broadband and another 15% through mobile.
The ever-changing technology landscape and the recent growth of internet as well as the smart phone penetration, together with the proactive measures of the Government helped the State to make significant strides in turning Kerala a knowledge-powered economy.