Free Wi-Fi usage of 1 GB per month proposed by Delhi Government; first phase to cover private and government colleges

In the first phase, the Delhi Government proposes to offer free Wi-Fi with a cap of 1 GB per month in all private and government colleges within a period of one year. This was revealed by Ashish Khetan, the Vice Chairman of Delhi Dialogue Commission, while speaking at the 'Wireless Broadband Vision Forum' at the FICCI Federation House.

In the subsequent phases, the free Wi-Fi service will be provided in rural areas. Khetan said that the government proposes to offer a minimum speed of 1Mbps for ensuring a good user experience.

The infrastructure will be setup by private players, and the government does not want to setup any infrastructure of its own. Khetan also said that the Delhi government wants the model to be based on an OPEX model, which will mean that the government will pay according to the total data consumed. The rights of advertisements for public interest campaigns and for promoting the policies of the government would also lie with the Delhi government.

Sources say that around there could be three types of Wi-Fi service -- public, college and vehicle. The college Wi-Fi will be rolled out first, followed by the public Wi-Fi for which 3000 hot spots across Delhi's constituencies have been identified. In vehicle Wi-Fi will be provided in DTC buses at a later stage.