The social networking giant Facebook has collaborated with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), and motive behind the collaboration is to create 100 WiFi hotspots in rural parts India to drive digital access in the country.
Facebook will be investing Rs 5 crore per annum, to buy the required bandwidth from BSNL in this joint project, which also includes Quad Zen and Trimax for IT equipment and fiber deployment, as part of IT infrastructural service provider, said Anupam Shrivastava, Chairmen and Managing Director, BSNL in a report published in Economic Times.
“Facebook has selected 100 villages to make available Wi-Fi hotspots on a revenue sharing model,” said Shrivastava, he further said “it will spend Rs 5 lakh per site a year for buying bandwidth from BSNL for a period of three years.”
However there is no official statement on the collaboration from Facebook.
Around 25 villages have been roofed under this pilot program in southern and western India up-till now and the project is likely to be leveled up and extended from a current three-year partnership, by another two years.
“We have aimed to complete the WiFi rollout by December 31 this year,” Shrivastava said, adding that users can get free Internet connectivity for the first half an hour. The WiFi network is powerful enough to have an average engaging 2,000 individuals at a same time.
Qaud Zen will be responsible for providing equipment and sales and marketing initiatives for the south-west region while for the northern region the process will be handled by Trimax, according to the BSNL’s top executive said.
BSNL, on its part, is optimistic about its WiFi initiatives and has rolled out 450 hotspots focusing on pan-India tourist spots, aiming to set up a total of 2,500 WiFi hotspots by the end of current fiscal year through March 2016. “We are focusing on WiFi hotspots in line with the government strategy of Digital India,” Shrivastava said.
