MTNL to start Wi-Fi service

Apart from high speed broadband services, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is planning to come up with Wi-Fi services in the city.

MTNL's executive director Peeyush Agrawal said, "We are planning to have a significant presence in the city's Wi-Fi services. The plan is to have high speed mobile internet in public places."

Tenders have been invited for the same and the deal will be finalised soon. "Initially, we are planning 5 Mbps Wi-Fi at prominent places — Marine Drive, Gateway of India, Juhu beach and malls. Here, the initial 30 minutes will be free daily. We have also extended this service at one of the prestigious colleges of south Mumbai, where students get 5 Mbps Wi-Fi access for a yearly subscription of Rs300," added Agrawal.

MTNL is also planning to supply high quality 50 to 100 Mbps broadband at home. The idea is to bring these high speed services in all the buildings of Mumbai progressively through 2.3 lakh km of fibre cables.
The target is to have a million customers through reasonable and ambitious pricing range of 100 GB for Rs999.