RailTel, which has provided fibre optic connectivity at over 5,900 stations across the country and mostly in rural areas, is now planning to provide broadband and WiFi facilities in remote villages, sources said on Friday.
"As we already have optic fibre cables in 58,742 route km and proper Internet WiFi services at 5,900 railway stations we have shared a proposal with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for providing broadband and WiFi services in remote villages," a RailTel source connected to the development told IANS.
The source said that RailTel, which has a presence even in the remote areas of the country, has the capacity to provide broadband and WiFi services in the villages, which will be a mega boost for the government's Digital India programme.
The source said that DoT has so far not responded to the proposal sent by it.
The source said that once permission is granted by the DoT, then the work for providing the broadband and WiFi services will start taking shape.
The source said that RailTel plans to provide broadband service with a basic phone and WiFI services. It clarified that it has no plans to enter into the voice calling services.
The source said that RailTel has the infrastructure and equipment in place at 5,900 stations across the country and they just need to extend their services to the villages, while it would take time for the private operators.
The source said that considering the fact that many operators services are not available in many remote areas so laying the cables and setting up mobile towers will take time for them.
"And our services are already available at the nearest railway stations there, so we just need to extend the services to the villages," the source added.
RailTel, a Miniratna public sector unit under the Ministry of Railways, handles crucial communication systems, video conferencing and implementation of e-office platform as well as storing important data for the national transporter in its two data centres in Haryana's Gurugram and Telangana's Secunderabad.
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