The new pilot project dubbed ‘Digital Village’ plans to provide free wireless internet connectivity to more than 1000 villages to provide basic development services to rural areas.

February 1, 2017

After Google and Facebook, Indian government is gearing to provide free Wi-Fi connectivity to its rural citizens in over 1000 villages. The government plans to setup Wi-Fi hotspots (mounted on special towers) in these villages. As per reports, Indian and global Internet providers are queuing up for the project, which aims at connecting more than 900 million people in the country. In the initial phase of the project government is allocating funds worth over Rs 400 Crores (USD 62 million).

Under the Bharat Net project (with a Rs 10,000 Crore allocation of funds) optical fiber cables will be laid across 1,55,000 kms all over India and high-speed broadband (via optic fiber) will become available to over 1.5 lakh gram panchayats. Google is currently providing free Wi-Fi at 100 railway stations across India. According to Google, the free service is available to over 10 million people passing through these stations every day. The company has also claimed its free Internet service sees over five million monthly users, with 15,000 first time users connecting each day.