Telangana CM seeks Rs 1,250 cr long term interest-free loan for T-Fiber project

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Friday sought an interest-free long term loan of Rs 1,250 crore from the Centre for the T-Fiber project, which aims to provide fiber connectivity to 93 lakh households in the state at Rs 300 per month. During a meeting with Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Reddy said the state government has already raised Rs 530 crore from financial institutions for the project, which has a total proposed investment of Rs 1,779 crore.

"The Chief Minister requested that the remaining amount be provided as a long-term, interest-free loan from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)," an official statement said.

Reddy, who was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, said the project aims to connect all village panchayats, mandals, and districts, providing high-speed internet, cable TV, and e-education services.

The project also seeks to offer G2G and G2C connectivity to 65,500 government institutions, he added.

The chief minister requested timely provision of infrastructure for the first phase of the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) and urged prompt approval of a Detailed Project Report submitted last October to convert NOFN Phase 1 to BharatNet-3 architecture.

He also sought extension of the BharatNet movement scheme to T-Fiber.

In a separate meeting with Union Sports Minister Mansukh L Mandaviya, Reddy sought opportunity to host national and international sports events and requested financial assistance for setting up a Sports University.