Delhi Chief Minister(CM) Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, December 4, announced that free public WiFi hotspots will be soon set up in Delhi.
The Delhi government plans to set up 11,000 WiFi hotspots across markets and bus stops. Of this, 7000 hotspots would be set up in various markets, residential welfare associations and other places in the city, and 4,000 will be set up at bus stops. Of the 7000 hotspots, 100 will be there in every constituency.
Pointing out minimum data usage as a basic need, the CM said that free WiFi would help students and the health and education sectors.
The Chief Minister also said that the first 100 Wifi hotspots would be inaugurated on December 16. The government aims to set up all 11,000 hotspots within the next six months.
“The installation of the hotspots have started. The first 100 hotspots will be activated on December 16. After that, every week, 500 hotspots would be set up. Within six months, all 11,000 hotspots would be set up,” Kejriwal said.
Each hotspot will cover a radius of 100 metres and upto 150-200 people will be able to access the internet simultaneously. Each individual can use 1.5 GB data per day and 15 GB per month.
“After setting up the hotspots, within 500 metres the citizens of Delhi will be able to get a WiFi connection. On average, it will have a speed of 100Mbps. At high-density areas, it will be 200 Mbps,” he said.
The project is expected to cost around ₹100 crore and is based on a rent model. The government will pay a monthly rental for each hotspot to the company handling the project.
The government will also launch an app through which users can upload their KYC(know your customer) details. The user will then receive an OTP, using which they can start using the internet.
He further added that all promises made by the government in the manifesto for the 2015 Assembly polls have been completed. “After this, all our promises in the manifesto will be completed. I think we are probably the first government which has fulfilled all its promises within five years,” Kejriwal said.
While the project was announced by the AAP government after coming to power in 2015, it got delayed due to various reasons.
