Mumbai becomes largest public WiFi city; Fadnavis announces activation of 500 hotspots

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday went on Twitter to announce the activation of 500 WiFi Hotspots across various locations in Mumbai, saying that the number would reach up to 1200 by May 1, 2017.

Fadnavis further said that Mumbai has become India’s largest public WiFi service and one of the largest in the world. Fadnavis provided the citizens with a link to find their nearest hotspot locations. The Chief Minister assured the citizens that the government would keep on monitoring the progress on connectivity and speed. Fadnavis went ahead and said that the government was committed to providing a good experience to Mumbaikars and would resolve the issues on priority.

Speaking about the progress of the hotspots across the city and the customers using them, Fadnavis informed that during the trial period from Hanuary2 to January 8, about 23,000 users had signed up to the service and downloaded more than 2 TB of data. The promise to connect the city through hotspots was made in August last year when Fadnavis had announced that the government would work to provide as many as 1,200 WiFi hotspots in the city. Although, the promised deadline for the completion of 500 WiFi hotspots was November 2016.

The WiFi network was said to be used for smart parking and smart transportation facilities by providing real-time updates on the traffic, routes and the capacity of the modes of transportations. It was reported that the hotspots in the city would be set up in prominent locations such as the Gateway of India and Chowpatty, and certain areas in the city and the suburbs.