Bangalore to become first railway station with Wi-Fi connectivity

Bangalore will become the first railway station to be equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity by August, Rail Tel Corporation of India Ltd MD K K Bajpeyee said today. "In the next two months, Bangalore is going to have Wi-Fi facility. Bangalore will be followed by Jaipur," said Mr Bajpeyee, who demits his office tomorrow. Addressing a press conference, he said the infrastructural facilities, including setting up of telecommunication towers, were already in place, and the two stations would be among the among the first to provide this hi-tech facility to train passengers and other customers.

Initially, it will function within a radius of 2-4 km from the station, and its radius will gradually be expanded to cover large number of residential and commercial establishments near railway stations. "It will deliver a new experience to the railway passengers by deploying Wi-Fi hotspots at stations. It will be delivered on WiMax/Wi-Fi-based platform and will provide Internet services to passengers having Wi-Fi/WiMax enable services," he pointed out. RailTel has chalked out plans to provide Wi-Fi connectivity at 50 stations in the first phase. Subsequently, it will be expanded to 500 stations. For the Bangalore station, he said Rail Tel had signed an agreement with the Bangalore-based Airlink company, a subsidiary of American multinational company Pronto.

Asked whether Wi-Fi connectivity could be provided in a running train, Mr Bajpeyee said this was a possibility but it would require setting up of mobile towers at stations. "In the next two-three years, this possibility can translate into a reality, allowing passengers to transform their compartments into a hi-tech office," he said. He also spoke of the need to revise Air Tel's business plan with regart to cyber cafes, saying it was yielding barely Rs 600-800 for a cafe owner at a medium size station.

"Only at big sations like Pune, cyuber cafe owners are earning around Rs 4000 a day," he said. "The business strategy of Air Tel has to be refashioned," he added. RailTel has started operation of its cyber cafes, branded as 'Cyber Express' at 21 stations. These include New Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Ernakulam, Mysore, Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Guntur, Coimbatore, Howrah, Puri, Ahmedabad and Nagpur.

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