RailTel has announced the launch of free high-speed public Wi-Fi service in partnership with Google at Mumbai Central.
The project was announced last September during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Google headquarters in Mountain View.
Google and RailTel will expand the network to cover 100 of the busiest stations by this year-end and will eventually roll out the service in 400 railway stations across India. This is expected to be the largest public Wi-Fi project in India and among the largest in the world in terms of number of potential users.
The Wi-Fi will be available to any user who has a working mobile connection on a smartphone.
Rajan Anandan, Vice-President & Managing Director, Google South East Asia and India, said, “By end of this year, over 10 million people will be able to enjoy this experience at 100 stations spread across the country.”
“We’ve focussed on delivering a network that is at par with the high speed public Wi-Fi network that is available to users in developed countries. The network is built for wide coverage and high capacity usage unlike a typical Wi-Fi hotspot which offers connectivity in limited area and poor experience,” said Gulzar Azad, Head of Access Project, Google India.
This network will extend to cover both long distance train station and the local train station in Mumbai Central.
The next four stations going online will be Allahabad, Patna, Jaipur and Ranchi.