MUMBAI: A joint report by Google and global research firm Ananlysys Mason stated that public Wi-Fi in India has the ability to capture 40 million new connected users by 2019, resulting in at least $20 billion being added to the country's GDP. Public Wi-Fi could play a key role in driving ubiquitous connectivity and digital inclusion in India.
The report, titled "Accelerating connectivity through public Wi-Fi: Early lessons from the railway Wi-Fi project," outlined an opportunity to develop a wider connectivity ecosystem with public Wi-Fi as a key component.
Analysys Mason principal consultant Ashwinder Sethi said,"By 2019, over 100 million users will spend an extra $3 billion annually on mobile broadband and handsets because of their experience of high-speed public Wi-Fi. This has direct implications on Wi-Fi ecosystem in the country, and indirect implications on the broader connectivity ecosystem, along with government, GDP and productivity."
Google has currently partnered with RailTel and Indian Railways to offer public Wi-Fi in railway stations, covering 400 stations with about 7.6 million monthly active Wi-Fi users. The high-speed Wi-Fi network with uncapped bandwidth of 1 Gbit/s per station provides path-breaking digital experience to existing and new users alike.
Google India partnership Next Billion Users director K Suri said, "India is a big market for the next billion users. Wi-Fi is a huge focus area and opportunity in terms of connecting these users. We have found that if users have free and fast access, it could make a significant change to their lives and overall economic prosperity."
Offered as a free utility service under the brand name "RailWire", users have 30 minutes of free access to the internet, in which they can on an average consume 350 MB of data per session.
"Currently, the public Wi-Fi has close to eight million monthly active users, two-thirds of which are in a typically young age group. While 50 per cent users access theinternet multiple times a day, 36 per cent are first time Wi-Fi users on the network," Suri said.
"The most usage is of online videos streaming content and watching IPL, social networking, finance. Even with multiple users getting connected at the same time, the experience is seamless and fast, with no buffering," the Google executive noted.
As part of the next billion users’ initiative, Google is now building on the success of RailTel project to expand the public Wi-Fi outside train stations, into Indian cities and around the world like Indonesia and Mexico, among others, Suri added.
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