New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party government today said that it would provide 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots by February next year across the national capital.
The Government is also contemplating providing Wi-Fi in 5,000 buses of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and also lay a common fibre infrastructure in the city. Delhi Government in association with the Delhi Dialogue Commission's Wi-Fi Task Force today concluded a three-day consultation with various system integrators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), hardware and software providers as well as ISPs and Telecom operators.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, DDA vice-chairman Ashish Khetan, parliamentary secretary Adarsh Shastri and Chief Secretary K K Sharma were part of the consultation. “Wi-Fi will be the first phase of making Delhi a digital city and will bridge the digital divide by creating an information superhighway, which will consist of CCTV, geotagging, m-governance, e-governance and other citizen services being built on top of Wi-Fi as a service,” Shastri said here.
An official of the IT department said that it envisions the rollout of 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots around the time of completion of first year of AAP Delhi government early next year with further scaling of coverage every year. As a next step, the AAP Delhi government will ensure mesh coverage across the city.
“Further, the AAP government will consider installing Wi-Fi in 5,000 DTC buses and also laying a common fibre infrastructure network across the city. “Technical and feasibility study on these issues is being conducted by the Wi-Fi Task Force of Delhi Dialogue Commission and the IT department of Delhi government,” the official said.
According to the government, at the end of this three-day consultation and over 40 one-to-one discussions at the DDA's Wi-Fi task force, the expert panel came up with preliminary expert recommendations which will be followed by a detailed scoping paper by June-end.
“State government wants to give its every citizen the right to internet and Wi-Fi. Universal access to internet is transformative idea that can empower citizens and provide them a level playing field, irrespective of economic status, educational qualifications, gender, race or religion,” government said in a statement.
