BANGALORE: Optic Fibre Cables manufacturer Aksh Optifibre Limited has received a Rs 961 million order for the Andhra Pradesh broadband project, for the supply of Optical Fibre Cables for Phase 1, which is to be delivered in nine months.

The ambitious project seeks to connect all villages across the State and 40,000 government offices by June 2005. Expected to bridge the digital divide, the project proposes creating a 10-gigabyte pipe up to the district level, a 1-gigabyte network up to Mandal-level and 100 megabyte up to villages to bring e-governance services to the doorstep of people through Internet kiosks.

This network will be the backbone for the IT kiosks to be set up in the villages -- would be either single or multi-terminal systems, which will provide various services in an online, offline and interactive mode for, both, voice and data and will be connected to the district data-centres and the state data-centre, states an official release.

On completion this will be the country's largest e-rural project offering, G2C, G2B, B2B, B2C and C2C services providing ample scope for government departments, businesses, entrepreneurs, NGOs and organizations of all kinds to create and manage services addressed to the rural citizens and markets. The G2C and G2B services, currently available on the government portal, will also be linked.