KOCHI: The government promise to provide free Wi-Fi hotspots at major public places gets a boost with IT Department sanctioning funds for the project. In a Government Order issued by IT secretary M Sivsankar on April 2, sanction has been provided to establish 2000 Wi-Fi hotspots at bus stands, government officer, railway station, parks and libraries.
According to an officer with Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM), last year, the government has approved setting up of 1000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the state. However, KSITM requested the government to sanction an additional 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspot connection as well.
Approving the proposal, the government agreed to provide a fund of Rs 50 crore for the realisation of the project. “We expect to realise the project by installing Wi-Fi hotspot connection at all railway stations, major bus station, district hospital and important government office by the end of 2018 or in 2019. We are finalising the places where the Wi-Fi hotspots have to be installed,” he said. The government has sanctioned fund for operations and maintenance for three years, the expense for internet bandwidth each year, cost for installing additional access points, site preparation expenses, administrative expenses and integration with third-party software.
According to officials, Wi-Fi hotspots would be installed by Cisco Technology. People can access 300 MB internet per day f rom the hotspots using smartphones and laptops.
Similarly, the government websites supportinge - governanceand m-gove rnance will be having free unl imi ted access. The service also provided at all major tourist spor t s for assisting foreign and domestict our is tarriving in Kerala. The India governme nt a l sohave launched BharatNet project which intends to provide free Wi-Fi hotspots.