BENGALURU: Tech city Bengaluru will get 4,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots in nine months’ time, Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan announced on the final day of the Bengaluru Tech Summit on Wednesday. At a joint press meet, the Deputy CM and Bala Malladi, CEO of Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT Fibernet) said the company will provide free Wi-Fi for one hour per person daily.
“Bengaluru, the Silicon City of India, has always seen a huge demand for wi-fi.
This will also help tourists visiting the city. Free Wi-Fi of 1 GB with high-speed internet connectivity will be given for an hour to people every day in areas where the footfall is big. The Karnataka Government will not be spending a rupee and ACT will bear the entire project cost of Rs 100 crore,” said Ashwath Narayan, who is also the Minister for Information Technology, Biotechnology, Science and Technology. He said this will be social service and not a commercial venture for the company. “The project is being implemented by the Urban Development Department and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. Only power supply has to given to ACT from our side, for which they will be charged,” he said.
“It will take nine months to complete the project. Other telecom companies are welcome to provide free wi-fi services to the public,” Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan added.Bala Malladi, CEO of ACT said, “A customer of ACT will automatically get connected to the Wi-Fi while others will have to access it through a login and one-time password. The only permission we will need is to put up our meters on poles to create the hotspot. We will not require any road-cutting permission as we will rely on existing optic fibre cables laid in the city. There will be a huge cost of maintenance which we will bear.”