Providing free daily internet quota of up to 1GB for school and college students is on the cards
After becoming the first state in the country to complete a mass roll-out of high-speed public internet services, the Maharashtra government is planning a free daily internet usage quota of up to 1GB for school and college students and residents of backward areas on this network.
The government will also launch WiFi services in other cities like Kalyan-Dombivli, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Amravati, Nashik and Aurangabad. These services have been launched in some pockets of Nagpur as part of the Smart City project. It will also connect all villages in the state with optical fibre cable (OFC) by the end of next year.
"We plan to allow free usage of up to 1GB per day in specific areas where the digital divide is stark. However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will take the final call," a senior government official said, adding that these sites could include educational institutions, lower-income group areas and localities like Mankhurd, Chembur and Govandi where the number of the underprivileged is huge.
The state government is planning a mix of free and paid models for users with usage being free till January 31.
"This will create an empowering digital ecosystem," he noted, however cautioning that they would also have to take into account the possible load on the system.
On Monday, Fadnavis launched the first phase covering 500 WiFi hotspots with around 2,000 access points. In the second phase, expected to be launched by May 1, the state plans to cover schools, colleges, bus stops, grounds and the periphery of the 91 police stations with WiFi access.
In the two phases, a total of 1,200 hotspots will be set up with each having around four access points, which can connect around 40 users each depending on the bandwidth. The official said that by January-end, the state government will float a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and launch the roll-out of the BharatNet project by March. The state plans to connect all 27,920 Gram Panchayats in Maharashtra with a fibre, thus creating a capacity of 100 mbps per Gram Panchayat.
The project, which costs around Rs 9,000 crore, will be covered under the Digital India programme's Bharat Net initiative, which aims at connecting all Gram Panchayats through a high-speed digital highway using optical fibre.
It will monetize this high-speed internet service architecture by allowing private players to hire it on payment, thus creating jobs in rural and semi-urban areas through set-up of rural BPO units, warehouses, small movie halls and supply chain management systems.
All 776 Gram Panchayats in Nagpur have been connected via fibre, making it Maharashtra's first digital district.
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