East Delhi will be the first to get free Wi-Fi in the Capital. The Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC) – the advisory body of the Delhi government – announced on Friday that 571 locations have been identified in east Delhi, where 1,000 hotspot zones will be created by December.
However, the government is yet to fix the restrictions on using the free Wi-Fi such as the download and time limits.
Providing free Wi-Fi in the city is one of the major poll promises of the Aam Aadmi Party and the DDC has been working on it since last year. Under a pilot project, free Wi-Fi was provided in a commercial complex in Sant Nagar market in North Delhi.
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Ashish Khetan, DDC vice-chairperson, said on Friday the government had also taken an in-principle decision to provide high-speed internet to every household in the city through a common fibre network.
“Each of the 1,000 hotspot zones will have three access points for the users. And 12 people will be able to log in simultaneously through each of the 3,000 access points,” said Khetan. He further said, if required, 3,000 more hotspot points could be set up in the area.
He said the East Delhi project would be a unique initiative. Khetan said the limit on the per capita consumption of internet would be as defined by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Sources said the final decision on the download and time limits would be taken by the Cabinet before the tendering process started.
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The request for proposal (RFP) will be issued soon. The government aimed to set up these hotspots in east Delhi by December end, Khetan said.
Besides free WiFi, the state government was working on setting up a common network fibre network for basic broadband service, he said.
“For a city to be smart, there should be remarkable change in health, education, water and power, public transport and security. The common fibre network is crucial to bring about this change,” said Khetan.
He added the work on common fibre network had already begun and the PWD was the nodal agency for the project. “Our aim is to provide people with high-speed internet,” said Khetan.
