Reliance Industries' data services venture Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) has launched free Wi-Fi hotspots in eight locations at Ahmedabad and nine locations at Baroda and Surat, the company has disclosed in its annual report for the financial year 2014. RIL claims that it has provided high speed Internet trials to over 55,000 unique devices since launch. Users were provided 72 hours of free usage which could be extended through re-activation. The company claims that it had also deployed on-ground teams in each of these locations along with central call centres to facilitate users connect to Jio's Wi-Fi service. This ties in with a DNA report in February this year, which had suggested that Reliance Jio had launched eight wi-fi spots in Ahmedabad, in collaboration with the Gujarat government. These Wi-Fi hotspots were launched as part of the state’s ‘e-Nagar’ project and was expected to be rolled out to 53 towns in Gujarat in the long run. While there was no official word on the average Internet speeds one could expect at these wi-fi hotspots, the DNA report had cited a company technician to suggest an average downloading speeds of 40 Mbps. It had also added that the service is being offered free for three months. We are also reminded of a source-based The Economic Times report from last December, which had suggested that Reliance Jio is looking to launch large scale WiFi networks in Mumbai and Delhi. It had reportedly had inked a contract with Ericsson to set up around 30,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across commercial buildings, offices and malls in…
