RailTel turns 1600 railway stations into RailWire Wi-Fi zone

RailWire Wi-Fi by RailTel is now live at 1600 railway stations across the country. The Santacruz railway station in Mumbai became the 1600th station to become a RailWire Wi-Fi zone.

RailWire

RailWire is a retail Broadband initiative of the RailTel. It envisages extending broadband and application services to the public. RailTel is working to establish bringing fast and free Wi-Fi at all stations (except the halt stations) within a year.

RailTel has provided high-speed Wi-Fi at 985 stations with its funding. The Wi-Fi at 415 A, A1 and C category stations has been provided in association with Google as the technology partner. Wi-Fi connections at 200 stations were provided with support from the Universal Service Obligatory Fund of the Government of India.

Universal Service Obligation Fund

Universal Service Obligation Fund was instituted  by the government of India to help fund projects to boost connectivity in rural areas. The money for this fund comes through a ‘Universal Access Levy,’ charged from the telecom operators as a percentage of various licenses fees being paid by them.

RailTel

RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. is a Miniratna public sector enterprise of Government of India. It is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country owning a Pan-India optic fibre network on exclusive Right of Way (ROW) along Railway track.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2019