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The Indian Railways has one of the world’s largest public WiFi networks in RailWire WiFi. With around 2.6 crore users logins in a month, and over 9,491 Tetra Byte (TB) of aggregated data consumption, RailWire WiFi at 746 railway stations across the country is only getting stronger. The network, provided by RailTel, a ‘Mini Ratna’ central PSU (Public Sector Undertaking) under the Ministry of Railways, is not only one of the largest but also one of the fastest public WiFi networks. “The response to the high speed service provided as part of turning railway stations into a platform for digital inclusion has been phenomenal,” sources in RailTel told The Hindu . Bona fide passengers are using this WiFi facility for streaming high definition (HD) videos, and downloading movies, songs and games, and engaging with their office work online, says RailTel. For a modern handset, the speed can go as high as 40 Mbps for the initial 30 minutes of unhindered open access, which is unmatched on any other network. The backbone capacity of each of these railway stations is 1 GBPS. Free WiFi services to commuters are being provided under ‘RailWire’, RailTel’s retail Broadband initiative. Of the 746 railway stations, RailTel has provided high speed WiFi at 414 A, A1 and C category railway stations across the country, in association with Google as the technology partner. Currently, 21 railway stations in Kerala have free WiFi, and a project to provide free WiFi to 100 more stations this fiscal as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of a Mumbai-based trust through RailTel is on the anvil, officials said.
