Digital India campaign: WiFi service takes hold in city

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the first phase of the largest public WiFi service for Mumbaikars with 500 hotspots across the city on Monday, after 23,000 users signed up and used two terabytes of data during the testing week — from January 2 to January 8.

The CM's office said it is one of the biggest projects undertaken for providing free WiFi to citizens. It also said that 1,200 WiFi hotspots will go live by May 1.

The MMRDA has spent Rs 194 crore for the project, which is being implemented by the state-owned Maharashtra Information Technology Corporation (MITC). Information technology giants like HP will set up WiFi access points, while MTNL is the bandwidth provider for the project. This apart, L&T is the system integrator, while Pricewaterhouse Coopers is the consultant for the project.

The city's surveillance project was launched on October 2, which included the installation of 2,000 surveillance poles in Mumbai. The infrastructure is being used to provide free WiFi. Till the end of January, there won't be any limit on data usage. Also, there will be no WiFi time limit.

Citizens can get information about the various WiFi points by browsing through the government's 'Aaple Sarkar' portal. The CMO has informed people that they can send feedback on the free WiFi service via Twitter (@AS_Mum_WiFi).