Thiruvananthapuram: Indian Railways is set to join the bandwagon of internet providers in Kerala with a special provision for those browsing education sites.

The railways is providing broadband internet connection in the state through the Railtel Corporation of India Ltd. The biggest incentive for those taking the net service of Indian Railways is that they can download education material free.

A. Seshagiri Rao, executive director (southern region) of Railtel, told IANS Railtel would provide the service through cable operators who have connectivity across the state.

"The internet service would become operational in the next two to three months," said Rao, who was in the city.

Railtel, which manages the communication sector of Indian Railways, has laid more than 38,000 km of optical fibre cable across the country, which would be the backbone for providing broadband connectivity in the state.

"Our network is such that every railway station in the country can be turned into a source for education centres. But we have decided to provide broadband connectivity to the people through cable operators. The biggest advantage for those using our connectivity is that they would get unlimited download in matters regarding education," said Rao.

Towards this, Railtel has finalized a tie-up with the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore where they have ready more than 6,000 hours of lectures by the faculty.

"The biggest advantage of Indian Railways internet is that downloading of education material will be at a speed ranging from 2 mpbs to 30 mpbs," added Rao. IANS