Google extends free WiFi to 10 railway stations

[THAKUR]

Google has extended free internet service through WiFi to 10 railway stations as part of its tie up with Railtel, the internet provider arm of Indian Railways.

After the first launch at Mumbai Central last year, the high speed wireless broadband service now covers stations in Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Ranchi, Raipur, Vijayawada, Kacheguda (Hyderabad), Ernakulum Jn (Kochi) and Vishakhapatnam, providing internet to over 1.5 million people.

"As internet adoption grows in India, easy and affordable access to high-speed networks is the real need of the hour," said Gulzar Azad, Head of Access Project, Google India.

We are scaling up our efforts to roll out the network quickly to cover some of smaller stations where connectivity is much more limited, he added.

Google and RailTel will take the total number of covered stations to 100 within this year, which will be a fifth of the number announced by CEO Sundar Pichai in December 2015's visit to India.

Chairman and Managing Director of Railtel RK Bahuguna said, "As outlined by the Hon'ble Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, - modernising and improving the amenities available to passengers of Indian Railways is big part of our focus.

While the service will be free for a reasonable amount of time, the long-term goal is to make this project self-sustainable to allow for expansion to more stations and places, with RailTel and other partners, the chairman added.

Google extends free WiFi to 10 railway stations | ET Telecom

 

[Teufel]

If you’re one of the 1.5 million people who travel through Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar,Ernakulam Jn, Kacheguda, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam train stations everyday, you’re in luck! While you wait for your train, you can now look forward to free high-speed Wi-Fi, hopefully making that wait a bit more enjoyable and productive.

These 9 stations join the first we brought online in January, Mumbai Central, where more than 100,000 people are already logging into the high-speed Wi-Fi every week. We hope that people passing through these first 10 stations will enjoy being able to easily stream (or offline) an HD video, research their destination, or download a new book or game for their journey ahead.

Here are a few shots around some of the stations that are now online:

It’s still early days, but we’re really happy about this progress towards making high-speed Wi-Fi available to more than 10 million Indians every day. In the months ahead, we’ll continue to work in close partnership with Indian Railways and RailTel, to reach 90 more stations this year, and eventually 400 spanning the whole of India.

Here you can see where we’re at on the journey. The stations that now have Wi-Fi are in bold, the additional markers show the rest of the stations we plan to reach this year:

If you have any questions about how to use the service, the details are explained here. Otherwise, watch this space for updates as we expand this service, hopefully reaching a station near you soon.

Posted by Gulzar Azad, Head of Access Programs, Google India

Google Asia Pacific Blog: High-speed public Wi-Fi rolls into nine more train stations across India

 

[Teufel]

Slap on the face of Facebook. That's how you offer free internet, and not only free facebook on the name of the free internet.

 

[Devesh]

Good to hear....

 

[Technoglitch]

Slap on the face of Facebook. That's how you offer free internet, and not only free facebook on the name of the free internet.

Fb wants to become a dictator and force the consumers to read what it gives or offers.

 

[IndianMascot]

Good to know that so many stations are getting free hi speed wifi

 

[IndianMascot]

Oh. One more thread for same news.

 

[scorpionking76]

Good to hear that the count of stations offering free WiFi is increasing day by day.