Those of us who live in countries with relatively fast Internet connection probably take it for granted that you get connectivity every day, even if at times it’s slower than what you’re paying for. But for countries that struggle to connect on to the web, getting free WiFi, and high-speed one at that, is something to be really happy about. Google announced that it has brought their high-speed WiFi connectivity to the 100th railway in India as it rolled out their ambitious project in the Udhagamandalam (Ooty) station.
Railwire WiFi is a collaboration between Google and RailTel to bring high-speed internet to 100 of the busiest train stations across India. They say that there are 10 million people who pass through these stations every day and they will all have the chance to connect to the internet and do whatever it is that needs to be done while they’re online. Google tells stories of people who are able to do work while on their train ride so they can spend more time with their families or people looking through classified ads in order to get jobs or students who are able to do research for school which they normally can’t do without connectivity.
Google also shared that around 15,000 people every day who connect to Railwire WiFi are actually connecting to the Internet for the first time. That is pretty hard to imagine for people who are born attached to their mobile devices with Internet, but this is the reality in a lot of developing countries. It is Google’s goal, with this particular project spearheaded by CEO Sundar Pichai, to make people’s lives better by giving them high-speed Internet.
The project was first announced just in 2015 and their final goal is actually to connect 400 railway stations with free high-speed Internet. They’re 25% there so 300 more to go. To further expand this, Google also launched Google Station, which will let partners the tool to roll-out hotspots in places other than the railway stations.
SOURCE: Google
