Kolkata turns first Wi-Fi-enabled metro city

Kolkata took the first step towards becoming the first wi-fi city in India with chief minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurating the service at Park Street on Thursday. The service is being provided by Reliance JIO which has already laid optical fibre in large parts of the city.

Initially the 4G wi-fi service will be available in Park Street, Camac Street, Loudon Street, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road and Mirza Ghalib Street but gradually it will cover the entire city within a few months. Speaking during the inauguration, Ms Banerjee said, “In a bid to create a knowledge hub, communication is a major thing, especially for the young generation. I dedicate this joint endeavour of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, state municipal affairs and urban development department and Reliance JIO to the youth of Kolkata.”

Ms Banerjee first tweeted, “All my wi-fi friends, I am tweeting using #WiFiKolkata. So proud to be first wi-fi metro city in India. Congratulations to us all.” Ms Banerjee said, “There have been extensive plans for covering 2,000 km to make both Kolkata and Salt Lake wi-fi enabled areas. Reliance has helped us immensely on this and we are left with 250 km more. We have further plans to extend the services to the areas of Barasat, Howrah and Rajarhat.”

According to her, the Bengali New Year is the deadline for completion of wi-fi facility in the city. It may be noted that the Gariahat-Golpark area is set to be the city’s second wi-fi hotspot.