Hyderabad, on Tuesday, took a step towards developing into a Smart City with the launch of 1,000 public Wi-Fi hot spots.
The Telangana government in collaboration with telecom service providers launched the Hyderabad City Wi-Fi Project, or Hy-Fi, which offer 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi to people with an assured bandwidth of 5-10 Mbps.
Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary, IT, told reporters that another 2,000 hot spots would be added in two months.
He said businesspersons, shopkeepers, entrepreneurs, students, women, and tourists will benefit from this facility.
The project costs around Rs 300 crore, and has service operators and infrastructure providers including Airtel, ACT Fibrenet, and BSNL as partners.
Cellular Operators Association of India, the apex industry association of telecom services providers, mobile and internet companies, is the technical adviser to the state government for this project.
The project was initially launched in 2015, under the 'Digital Telangana' umbrella with around 100 Wi-Fi hot spots in malls, tourist spots, public offices, police stations, government schools and colleges.
Over the last two years, the number has covered about 250 locations and the government has now decided to scale up the project to cover more than 3,000 locations across the city.
It also issued an order specifically to enable smooth execution of the programme for Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Greater Hyderabad Mayor Bonthu Rammohan, who inaugurated the project, said Hy-Fi will set another example making Hyderabad a truly connected city even on the digital front.
COAI Director General Rajan S. Mathews said with the successful completion of the Hy-Fi project, Hyderabad and Telangana will emerge as an example for the rest of the country.
Among project partners, Indus Towers will create infrastructure while service providers like Act Fibrenet, Airtel, and BSNL will offer connectivity.
Bengaluru-based Atria Convergence Technologies has been selected for bridging the last mile gap.
“With the growing number of citizens moving towards digital economy, our partnership with the Telangana government will bolster the internet connectivity in Hyderabad,” said Bala Malladi, CEO, ACT Fibernet.
