Indian Railways partners with Google for Wi-Fi at 400 stations

NEW DELHI, December 4: The telecom wing of the Indian Railways, RailTel, has signed an agreement with the subsidiary of Google India to provide Wi-Fi facilities at 400 stations across the country, the government said today. In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said that RailTel Corporation of India Ltd (RCIL), a PSU under Railway Ministry, signed an agreement with Mahataa Information India Pvt Ltd (MIIPL), an arm of Google Inc, to equip 400 stations with Wi-Fi in two phases. In first phase, as many as 100 stations out of the total A1 and A categories would be covered with the offering, while the facility would be extended to 300 stations in the second phase. Non-suburban stations with an annual passenger earning of more than Rs 60 crore are categorised as A1 stations, while those with yearly passenger income from Rs 8 crore to Rs 60 crore fall under the category of A stations. The capital expenditure for the project would be incurred by RCIL and MIIPL, the Minster added.