Reliance Jio in works to deploy free Wi-Fi hotspots to colleges across India: report

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has tabled a proposal to the Ministry of Human Development regarding its plans to offer free Wi-Fi facility to about 38,000 colleges across India, reported the Hindustan Times. The proposal aims to provide free internet connection to students for educational purposes.

Interestingly, a couple of months ago, HRD minister Prakash Javadker had announced that 38 universities would be made Wi-Fi enabled by August 31, this year. A month later, ministry received a proposal from Reliance Jio, expressing its interest in the plan.

In the proposal submitted to the ministry, Reliance Jio has expressed its desire of deploying free Wi-Fi hotspots in college campuses (technical or non-technical).

According to sources cited in the report, the HRD ministry is currently examining the proposal and is yet to come to any decision. It further quotes officials saying that it’s a first-of-it’s-kind proposal which needs to go through a transparent tender process first for ‘fair chance’.

“Through this free access to Wi-Fi, all students will be able to get internet connection and use educational resources such as online courses available on SWAYAM platform through the National Knowledge Network. The company plans to create hotspots for this,” a source told HT.

“Though they (Reliance) are not charging us any money for this project, we can’t approve it without giving a fair chance to others. A tender will be floated so that it is a fair and transparent process,” the source added.