RailTel Corporation of India Ltd., a Mini-Ratna PSU under Ministry of Railways, has successfully turned 15 railways stations in Hubli – Londa Railway section into Free Wi-Fi zones. Thirteen stations (Unkal, Amargol, Navalur, Kyarkop, Mugad, Kambarganvi, Kashanatti, Alnavar, Thavargatti, Nagargali, Devarayi, Shivathan, Londa) have been executed by RailTel on its own; the remaining major stations – Hubballi and Dharwad – have been executed in collaboration with Google as technology partner.
Wi-Fi services to passengers are being provided under ‘RailWire’ – the retail Broadband initiative of RailTel. Designed to offer users the best Internet experience, RailWire Wi-Fi will be available to any user who has a smartphone with working mobile connection for KYC considerations.
Talking about the Wi-Fi at Hubli-Londa section, DRM, Hubli, said – ‘The Wi-Fi facility given by RailTel is proving to be really helpful for the passengers of this section as the response from the users are very positive. A number of stations in this line are smaller stations catering to rural population and free Wi-Fi at stations near their village will help them use internet more conveniently.’
Sharing the details about the RailWire Wi-Fi at stations, Sh. Puneet Chawla, CMD, RailTel said: “The user has to switch on the Wi-Fi mode in the smartphone and select the RailWire Wi-Fi network. After the RailWire homepage network automatically appears on the smartphone, the user has to enter his or her mobile number on this homepage. The user will get one-time password (OTP) code in form of SMS in the message box which has to be entered in the home page of RailWire. Users will be able to access high speed internet & can start internet browsing.”
A senior official of RailTel added, ‘The OTP will be valid for 24 hours across the 13 stations managed by RailTel, but the user has to log in afresh at each station due to break in coverage.’
RailTel began providing high speed Wi-Fi service at railway stations several years ago, and has successfully provided high speed Wi-Fi at 765 stations across India. The service clocks 8+ million unique users per month. This is one of the largest and fastest public Wi-Fi networks in the world.