Google has once again demonstrated why they are the world’s most powerful digital company. Google and Railtel have successfully completed the massive WiFi project, across India, ahead of schedule.
Now, as per the initial plan, 400 railway stations are empowered with free WiFi, across India.
Google also shared some very interesting numbers, pertaining to WiFi project.
Keep reading to find out what they are!
Google’s WiFi Project Is Now Complete!
Assam’s distant railway station: Dibrugarh become the 400th Railway Station in India to get empowered with Google-Railtel’s free WiFi coverage.
With this, Google and Railtel have collectively completed the project of installing free WiFi across 400 railway stations, which was announced in 2015.
Dibrugarh, K Suri, Director, Partnerships, Google India expressed his happiness, as he said,
“Nothing can be better in reaching out to the masses than through existing railway infrastructure which enables us to even reach the hinterlands,”
K Manohar Raja, Executive Director, Enterprise Business, Railtel said that the vision was to enable a unique platform to connect the unconnected, and now, it has been completed.
Google-Railtel WiFi Project: Mind Boggling Numbers!
On the occasion, Google shared some interesting numbers, related to their Railway Station WiFi project across India.
Every month, there are 80 lakh Indians who are actively using this free WiFi across 400 Railway Stations, and 350 MB is the average usage, per person, per session. A session comprises of 30 minutes.
Users in the 19-34 age bracket are the most active users of this free WiFi service, and almost 50% of the overall users log in to the WiFi at least twice a day.
Tier 2 and 3 cities witness more consumption of data, compared to Tier 1 cities.
What Next?
Although this feat has been achieved before time, a lot needs to done to connect the unconnected in India.
As per various estimates, there are still more than a billion Indians who are not using the Internet, and Google wants to reach out to them with high-speed Internet.
Caesar Sengupta, VP of Google’s Next Billion team said,
“There are millions of other life-changing journeys that still haven’t been taken. We realize that not everyone in India lives or works near a train station.”
None the less, the success of this project has clearly set a new benchmark. Google has already expanded this project to Indonesia and Mexico, and more South Asian countries would be covered soon.
As per Google’s official blog post, they are now focussing on Smart City projects across India, and their experience and expertise of empowering 400 railway stations with WiFi will be a huge booster.
Have you ever used Google-Railtel’s free WiFi at Railway Stations? Do let us know by commenting right here!