The technology giant Google revealed on Monday that more than 1.5 million Indians access its free high-speed Wi-Fi services available at 19 stations across the country. As a part of the Digital India project, Google has tied up with Railtel to offer free high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity across 400 railway stations in India.
Earlier this year, Google launched the free Wi-Fi service at Mumbai Central. After seeing the success, the company last week launched the service at Sealdah, Lucknow Junction, Lucknow City and Gorakhpur Junction, four of India’s largest railway stations. Google has taken this initiative to can create broadband access to millions of Indians who are either not online or having limited internet service.
In a blog post, Google spokesperson announced, “We are delighted to announce that more than 1.5 million Indians are accessing the free Wi-Fi service, a milestone that we have hit with our project with Railtel. Whereas on the occasion of inaugural World Wi-Fi Day by the Wireless Broadband Alliance, we aim to bridge the digital divide through this platform.
According to the data provided by Google, the project has seen more success in the tier 2 market than in the tier 1 market. People in smaller towns in India are connected to Wi-Fi at railway stations than in cities. The data further states that Bhubaneshwar has overtaken Mumbai Central in free Wi-Fi usage within a day of its launch. Similarly, data consumption in small towns like Patna, Jaipur, Vishakhapatnam exceeds the data use in the major cities.
The company further said that even though only 20 percent of the Wi-Fi roll-out has completed, the response so far is phenomenal. Also, the average consumption per user per day on the network is 15 times than on a 3G pack.
People primarily use the free Wi-Fi service in these railway stations for infotainment and job search. Another most searched topics include information on educational courses, exam results, software download and more. The search giant is sure that more than 10 million Indians will be accessing the free Wi-Fi service by the end of 2016.
