NDMC plans full Wi-Fi coverage

NDMC is  planning to make the entire area under its jurisdiction a free Wi-Fi zone. This will be done by replacing all the street poles in its areas with smart poles.

These “sleek” poles will be “all-in-one” access points for Wi-Fi, LED lights and CCTV cameras. New Delhi Municipal Council is planning to cover 340 km through this project.
“A traveller immediately wants to connect with his family after landing at IGIA. But the half-an-hour journey from the airport to central Delhi is so bad that call drops are common. So we wanted to establish a Wi-Fi corridor for seamless connection of 20 minutes,” said NDMC chairperson Jalaj Shrivastava.

This will be achieved through a series of hotspots.

Earlier, the NDMC had started Wi-Fi in Khan Market and Connaught Place. The project will be better than the existing connections and the speed of the Wi-Fi will be better.

All the poles will be fitted with LED lights and CCTV cameras, and Wi-Fi access points will be installed in these poles. With the installation of LED lights, the council is planning to halve its electricity cost by half.

Currently, the NDMC spends Rs 9 crore on electricity on streetlights. This will come down to Rs 4.5 crore. The project was awarded to Indus Towers. Work will now be carried out in a phased manner.

“In the first phase, 1,000 streetlights will be replaced with smart poles. The company is now being awarded work for three years in which it will replace 3,000 poles,” said Shrivastava. The council will save Rs 15-20 crore on not having to install CCTV cameras separately, said Shrivastava.

Work on the project will start in three months, said a senior official from Indus Towers. The project will be time consuming, he added.