After Google, Facebook to offer free WiFi at Indian railway stations
Google recently revealed that close to 1.5 million people were using the free WiFi provided by them at 19 railways stations in India. While, the search giant expects over 10 million Indians to use its free WiFi service at railways stations by the end of 2016; there is another company which is set to share the respective share of users.
RK Bahuguna, Chairman of Indian Railways’ communications arm, RailTel, told Economics Times, that the former was in talks with Facebook for expanding its WiFi coverage not only to railways stations but to villages in the vicinity as well.
The operation is easy as RailTel has a readily available optic fibre-based network across over 4,000 railway stations in the country. This way, RailTel is capable of providing data services up to a 10km radius from rail stops and through the use of additional access points, this can easily be extended by up to 25km via additional access points.
Facebook also recently concluded a set of pilot internet services across 125 rural locations after purchasing bandwidth from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).
