Govt’s free Wi-Fi plan for 25 cities may be scrapped

New Delhi: The department of telecommunication (DoT) is likely to abandon its plan to set up Wi-Fi hot spots in 25 cities as it is too expensive, a DoT official said on Wednesday.

It is now exploring other ways to execute it as its internal estimates found that it would need Rs.10,000 crore to implement and another Rs.2,000 crore a year for the first five years for maintenance.

In December, DoT started looking into the feasibility of implementing the plan through partnerships with private firms.

The aim was to provide wireless data services at 2Mbps for people to connect their Wi-Fi-enabled devices and avail essential services on the Internet.

“The government has plans to empanel three to four service providers for speedy roll-out of Wi-Fi hot spots across top 25 cities in the country by June 2015. The services will be available at select public places within these cities,” its initial proposal said.

The proposal required creating a secure network with a 24X7 customer centre that citizens could connect to on a pay-per-use basis.

This is different from the plans of state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to create WiFi hot spots in 2,500 cities in the next few years.

DoT now plans to rope in state governments and make Wi-Fi a state subject so that private companies can partner with state governments or local bodies to start the plan.

DoT can provide technical assistance, said the official cited earlier.

Separately, the government has also identified 25 archaeological sites to provide free Wi-Fi access. These monuments include Humayun’s Tomb, Red Fort, Qutub Complex in Delhi; Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri Sravasti and Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh; Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram; Vaishali-Kohua in Bihar; Martand Temple and Leh Palace in Jammu and Kashmir; Konark Temple in Odisha; Rani-ki Vav in Gujarat; Khajuraho and Mandu in Madhya Pradesh, and Rang Ghar in Assam. It is unclear whether this plan is also likely to be dropped as the primary objective was to promote tourism in the country.