NEW DELHI: From Wah Taj to Wi-fi Taj, technology has effortlessly permeated through the white marble mausoleum of the Taj Mahal on Tuesday. Tourists will now be able to access 30 minutes worth free Wi-Fi inside this 17 century Mughal architectural site.
With thousands of tourists flocking every day to visit the heritage monument, the Wi-Fi facility will enable them to upload photographs instantly from the monument, do video calling among others.
As part of the Digital India programme, the government is working towards enabling all other tourist and religious locations like Khajuraho, Jagannath puri, Redfort, etc by March 2016.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has installed 21 Wi-Fi hotspots at the Taj Mahal in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), as part of the Modi government's Digital India campaign.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, communications and IT minister, launched the half-an-hour free Wi-Fi interet facility in the Taj Mahal complex provided by state-owned telecom operator.
On Monday, the minister had tweeted that ‘History will meet Technology’ starting Tuesday.
Anyone wishing to remain logged in for more than half-an-hour can do so by paying Rs 30 an hour. “After free usage limit of 30 minutes is exhausted, a customer can continue using the service on paid basis for which subscription plans are available in the denomination of Rs 20, Rs 30, Rs 50 and Rs 70 for validity of 30 min, 60 min, 120 min and one day respectively,” the statement said.
The facility has been set up by state-run operator BSNL with the optical fibre backbone that can provide high internet speed of up to 100 Mbps, it said.
Prasad said, “BSNL has plans to invest more than Rs 1,200 crore in UP (West) Circle during 2015-16. Out of this approx Rs 200 crore will be invested in upgrading and expanding mobile network.”
In February, Wi-Fi facility was launched by BSNL at Dashashwamedh Ghat and Shitala Ghats of Varanasi. The minister said that BSNL is expanding 3G network in UP (W) circle by installing 596 new BTS sites. It is also installing 795 new 2G BTS sites to increase the network coverage.
About Rs 982 crore will be invested in National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) under Phase-I covering 14,474 village panchayats spread over 227 blocks of UP(W) Circle, Prasad added.
