Google and RailTel has extended their high speed free WiFi service to nine cities. The railway stations of Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Ernakulam Junction, Kacheguda, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Vijaywada and Vishakapatnam will offer high-speed Internet to an estimated 1.5 million passengers and visitors, the company said in its blog. Google had kickstarted the project with RailTel earlier in January in Mumbai Central station. Google said that more than 100,000 people are already logging into the high-speed WiFi every week. "In the months ahead, we’ll continue to work in close partnership with Indian Railways and RailTel, to reach 90 more stations this year, and eventually 400 spanning the whole of India," it added. Google also provided a map of the stations it plans to roll out in the year. In September 2015, announced that it would tie-up with the Indian Railways and RailTel to provide high speed WiFi coverage in 400 stations. RailTel owns a pan-India optic fibre network exclusively on railway track. It has laid out over 45,000 kms of optic fibre network across the country, which Google looks to utilize for its WiFi. At the time, Google did not say how it will actually make the platform self-sustainable. However, RailTel has a website says it has tariffs for RailWire. Other public WiFi initiatives: – In July 2015, Amazon offered free WiFi internet with unlimited usage across select bus stops in Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai, as a temporary campaign. – In June 2015, Airtel won the mandate for the launch of Wi-Fi services in Gurgaon from the Municipal Corporation…
