India makes free WiFi service available at 6,000 railway stations

India’s Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said that free WiFi service is available at over 6,000 railway stations across the country.

In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Vaishnaw said that free WiFi services have been provided at 6,071 railway stations across India. “These are available to the general public free of cost for the first half an hour of any day and on a chargeable basis, subsequently,” said the minister.

The provision of WiFi at railway stations facilitates railway passengers in accessing the internet while at the stations. WiFi at railway stations is helping the public to avail online services/information, thereby contributing towards the Digital India initiative of the government.

The total data usage on these stations is of the order of 97.25 Terabytes per month approx.

No separate funds have been sanctioned by the Ministry of Railways for this scheme. Funds amounting to Rs272.2 million have been sanctioned by the Department of Telecom (DoT) under the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for the provision of WiFi services at 193 railway stations in rural areas.

WiFi services at 1,287 Railway stations (mostly A1 and A category stations) are being provided by M/s RailTel Corporation of India Limited (RCIL). In the remaining stations, WiFi services have been provided under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)/Charity projects of various firms for which no capital expenditure is incurred.

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