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BMC polls to speed up rollout of 500 Wi-Fi hotspots

The government is racing against time to implement the project before the code of conduct kicks in

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Marine Drive is one are where the first-phase rollout will take place.
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In a sop for citizens, especially first-time voters, the state government is planning to roll out free high-speed public Wi-Fi services, covering 500 hot spots across Mumbai before the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. The government is racing against time to implement the project before the code of conduct kicks in.

This is being billed as the fastest launch of public internet service in a metro.

The state will extend this service to provide internet access to schools, colleges, slum clusters, bus stops, private and public buildings and even the periphery of police stations in the second phase of the project, which will eventually see 1,200 Wi-Fi hotspots.

State information technology (IT) department officials told DNA that they were trying to launch the project before the code of conduct for the BMC polls is declared. The government had originally set December as the deadline for the project.

"This is a huge project. You will know about the practical difficulties only when you hit the ground. Now, over 99 per cent issues have been solved," explained an official for the delay.

The first phase will have around 2,000 access points. "In the second phase, we will extend the project to schools, colleges, bus stops and the periphery of the 91 police stations in areas like Mankhurd and Chembur," said an official.

The project would utilise the infrastructure created for the Mumbai CCTV surveillance. The state plans to roll out 1,200 hotspots with a 20 MBPS capacity by May 2017. It will also be possible to harness this for smart solutions for parking and public transport.

Each hotspot will have around four access points, which can connect around 40 users, depending on the bandwidth.

Vijay Kumar Gautam, principal secretary, IT department, said that while the hotspots in the first phase were ready to go live, they were awaiting a suitable date for the launch. The second phase would be launched on February 1 and is likely to be completed by April 30.

He said that, in this phase, sites without CCTV poles like institutions with open areas, police stations, hospitals, schools, colleges, public and even private buildings would see Wi-Fi hotspots being set up.

Sources said that a significant number of the 500 hotspots in the first phase would be in south Mumbai, including tourist spots like Chowpatty, Mantralaya, NCPA and Marine Drive.

"In the second phase, we can utilise the fibre set-up for the CCTV project. However, we have to undertake trenching and digging for last-mile connectivity," he said. Each hotspot has a range of around 70 metres, depending on the geography, built-up area in the vicinity and line of sight.

The official added that the rollout of the second phase would depend on the success of the first phase.

Initially, users will be able to avail 30 minutes or 100 MB of free daily high-speed usage. Services above this limit will be payment-based.

In order to monetize the project, the state is planning to tie up with business to consumer (B2C) service providers like e-commerce sites to generate revenues. The government will also block access to suspicious and malicious URLs on it.

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