The State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will set up 1,000 more Wi-Fi hotspots in the Kerala Circle to provide high-speed internet access at convenient public locations as part of the Digital India project.
The Wi-Fi hotspots proposed are in addition to the 10 commissioned in Ernakulam and three in Kozhikode on July 1 this year.
In Thiruvananthapuram, the BSNL has identified 135 locations, including Kovalam and Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, for establishing the hotspots and to provide 585 access points. The BSNL has commenced survey at these locations.
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Those visiting office complexes, colleges, universities, hospitals, bus stations, malls and shopping complexes, parks, beaches, tourist places, heritage sites, and religious places are the target.
The BSNL is taking up the project in a phased manner and all districts will get Wi-Fi hotspots.
The hotspots are being made available through three modes - free access (30 minutes a day for three consecutive occasions in a month from same mobile), physical voucher, and e-voucher.
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The tariff varies from Rs.30 for 30 minutes to Rs.150 a day. The BSNL has tied up with Quadgen Wireless solutions to provide 2 to 30 Mbps.
Announcing this at a press conference organised in connection with Digital India Week here on Saturday, Chief General Manager, BSNL, Kerala Circle, M.S.S. Rao said Ernakulam and Kozhikode were selected as the Mayors of these cities responded quickly to get the infrastructure. The capital would not be left behind, he added.
The Phase I of the Next Generation Network (NGN), IP-based switch that brings convergence between landline and mobile, to replace the old digital circuit switches would be completed by July end, Mr. Rao said.
In Phase I, 73,000 of the 87,500 lines were being replaced.
In Phase II, 3,00,000 lines would be replaced by 2015 end.
Mr. Rao said the Kerala Circle would commission another 153 GSM sites in three months. Already, 76 sites were commissioned this financial year.