Cisco revealed on Monday that it is partnering with Google to build free Wifi Zones in India.
The collaboration with Google is for its ‘gStation’ that will provide free and high-speed internet at public locations across India.
“This is a global partnership and India is the first country, where we are rolling this out,” Cisco President (India and SAARC) Sameer Garde said at the Cisco India Summit 2019.
“The success of digitization and digital citizen services is closely tied to the proliferation of high-speed internet. The partnership represents a significant growth opportunity as the demand for public Wi-Fi hotspots is expected to go up by 100X over the next three years,” he said.
Bengaluru is the first city to get free WiFi Zones
Cisco will be managing the network infrastructure for this venture. In Bengaluru, 25 locations have already been built and have gone live as well.
Around 200 more locations will be placed around the city in the next 2-3 months. The project is in partnership with D-VoiS – an Internet service provider in Bengaluru.
The free Wifi zones are offered at locations like the bus stops, government offices, hospitals and so on. The plan is that after this, gStation will be expanded to more cities in the country.
Most probably the next locations are in the outskirts of Delhi and cities in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
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8 Million Hotspots to be installed according to a TRAI report
Google and Cisco had announced their partnership in February 2019.
According to a report by TRAI ( Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), around 8 million hotspots are expected to be installed in India. There are 52,000 WiFi hotspots in India currently.
These hotspots will offer new opportunities for internet service providers.
About 59% of the internet traffic will be moved from cellular networks to WiFi by 2022.
400 Railway Stations across India have Free WiFi
Google Station is currently at close to 1,000 locations in India and has over eight million monthly active users across India.
These locations include 400 railway stations (in partnership with RailTel) across India, 150 locations in Pune (as part of the Pune Smart City Project) and 500 locations in Bengaluru announced on Monday.
Apart from India, Google has taken the Google Station model to other countries like Indonesia, Nigeria, Thailand, and Mexico as well.
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The post Cisco is Partnering With Google to Offer Free Wifi Zones in India appeared first on GarimaShares.
