Google Bringing WiFi to India

Google is Bringing Free WiFi to Train Stations in India—But There’s a Catch

Alice Truong | September 28, 2015

To help connect the nearly 1 billion Indians who lack internet access, Google plans to install high-speed WiFi access points at 400 rail stations in India.
The announcement comes on the heels of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Google’s headquarters on Sunday. One of the big themes of his Silicon Valley tour—which also included stops at Facebook and San Jose’s SAP Center—is connecting all 1.25 billion people in India to the internet, part of his Digital India initiative. In the past year, 100 million people in India accessed the web for the first time.

Google has brought good news for Indian Rail passengers as under ‘Project Nilgiri’ they collaborated with Indian Railways to provide free wifi across 400 Indian Railway stations across the country. Source: http://motivateme.in/googles-free-wifi-400-railway-stations-in-india/#

[...]And while the WiFi will be “free to start,” that’s not part of the long-term vision. Pichai notes the plan is to make the project “self-sustainable,” so it can expand to other places. It’s unclear when the transition will happen or what access will cost, but it’s possible the internet might continue to be out of reach for the very people Google and Modi’s Digital India initiative are trying to connect.

<more at http://qz.com/512656/google-is-bringing-free-wifi-to-train-stations-in-india-but-theres-a-catch/; related links: http://motivateme.in/googles-free-wifi-400-railway-stations-in-india/# (Google’s Free WiFi: 400 Railway Stations in India. September 12, 2015) and http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/google-is-offering-free-wi-fi-in-india-but-only-to-access-its-own-sites/251289/ (Google Is Offering Free Wi-Fi in India—But Only to Access Its Own Sites. January 12, 2012)>