Cisco to roll out free Wi-Fi zones

KOCHI: Technology conglomerate Cisco will roll out free high-speed Wi-Fi zones across India with Station.

The facility will provide communities around the country access to a free, open, high-quality public Wi-Fi, it announced at the Cisco India Summit 2019 here on Monday.

“Even as telecom infrastructure has become increasingly robust and ubiquitous in India, public access to high-speed data is critical for connecting over 800 million Indians who still aren’t online,” said Sameer Garde, president of Cisco India & SAARC.

Reliable and the high-speed public access is a key building block to realising the potential of a truly digital economy, he said.

“In line with the shared vision of connecting 1.3 billion Indians to the digital economy, the project has already begun its first phase of implementation. By September 2019, 200 locations in Bengaluru will be Wi-Fi enabled, followed by another 300 by in the second phase.  The locations include public spaces like bus stops, hospitals and government offices.”

He said that moving from slow to high-speed Internet access will increase user engagement and benefit millions of users throughout the economic spectrum.  

The success of digitisation and digital citizen services is also closely tied to the proliferation of high-speed internet.

“We are excited to partner with Google to bring free, open, high-quality internet access to everyone in India,” Mr Garde added.