Railtel, which provides Internet services as RailWire via its extensive fiber network in partnership with Google, has extended free WiFi to 9 more railway stations. Besides Mumbai Central, the services are now available in Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Ranchi, Raipur, Vijayawada, Kacheguda (Hyderabad), Ernakulum Jn (Kochi) and Vishakhapatnam.
The one of its kind project now connects 1.5 million Indian users to internet via smartphones. If you are passing through any of these stations, you can avail high-speed connectivity and even stream HD videos while you wait for your train’s departure.
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By the end of the year, free WiFi access will be extended to over 100 Railway Stations, thus providing access to 10 million users daily. Eventually, Google and Railtel plan on extending coverage to over 400 stations across India.
How to connect to RailWire Free WiFi on Railway Stations:
This is one of several initiatives taken by Google to prioritize India in its quest to add next billion users to Internet. The three prong approach includes providing internet to grass root level, making regional and relevant content available to users and empowering them with a platform to contribute back to the internet. Everybody wins, right?
Gulzar Azad, Head of Access Project, Google India, mentioned that besides quantity, their focus is also on the quality of internet connectivity for commuters.
“The network is now live in ten key stations across the country and we are scaling up our efforts to roll out the network quickly to cover some of smaller stations where connectivity is much more limited. As internet adoption grows in India, easy and affordable access to high-speed networks is the real need of the hour. With 100 stations live, this project will be the largest publicly accessible high speed Wi-Fi network in the country, but our real hope is that this project will set new benchmarks in delivering a reliable and consistent network connectivity in the country,” he said.
Also, these services won’t be free forever.
Commenting on the launch, Chairman and Managing Director of Railtel Shri R. K. Bahuguna said, “As outlined by the Hon’ble minister Shri Suresh Prabhu – modernising and improving the amenities available to passengers of Indian Railways is big part of our focus. And we are very proud to say that Indian Railways has taken the lead to offer the best Wi-Fi network experience available to passengers today in the country. And while the service will be free for a reasonable amount of time, our long-term goal is to make this project self-sustainable to allow for expansion to more stations and places, with RailTel and other partners, in the future.”
