MarcaTel, a two-year-old company focussed on providing high-speed Wi-Fi Internet connectivity in rural India, has announced plans to expand its network across the country through partnerships with local entrepreneurs.
The company was started by Narayanan Rajagopalan, who was formerly with HCL and Dell, and is part of Groupo LaMarca.
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Tower installation
It has begun installing, in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, antenna towers that beam high-speed Wi-Fi signals within a radius of 0.5 km.
It now plans to grow its network in a phased manner across India in four years, said Mr. Rajagopalan, group president, Groupo LaMarca.
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“MarcaTel, in partnership with Bluetown, has already unveiled a low-powered, low-cost Wi-Fi access point mast. It consumes only 40 watts of power and can run on lithium-ion batteries which can be charged with solar panels; it can be grid independent.”
“This technology is tried, tested and is running in several countries. This is the perfect answer to Internet connectivity-starved rural India,” he said.
Envisages job creation
“We will fully concentrate on rural India,” he added.
His target is to set up 6.5 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots across India in four years and in the initial phase. the company would focus on expanding in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Telangana.
“Currently, there is no bandwidth available in rural India. Our technology will solve the problem and will empower even students and farmers.
“Since we have decided to grow through a local franchisee distributor model, our project will also create millions of rural jobs,” Mr. Rajagopalan said.
Wi-Fi hotpots are required to provide last-mile connectivity. Currently, an estimated 31,000 public hotspots are installed across India.
In the recent New Telecom Policy, the government had said the country would need 10 million hotspots to meet demand for Net connectivity.
“It is easy to install our Wi-Fi hotspots. These will help access real-time information by people in rural India,” Mr. Rajagopalan said.