City govt's Wi-Fi scheme to be launched from Dilli Haat

Dilli Haat at INA in south Delhi is set be the first free Wi-Fi hub under the Delhi government’s populist scheme announced in the AAP’s poll manifesto.

During a trial run on Sunday at Dilli Haat each smart phone user was offered free internet access for 20 minutes.

As per the plan, any tourist who uses the Wi-Fi beyond the initial free 20 minutes would be able to do so on paying a charge to the service provider.

Also, each phone user would be able to avail the facility only once in a day.
A private telecom company has been roped in by the Delhi government for providing free Wi-Fi at the tourist hotspot visited by hundreds of domestic and foreign tourists.

“For accessing free Wi-Fi on smartphones or calling tablets, users will have to give a missed call on a particular phone number. After the call a Wi-Fi usage password would be sent to the caller through SMS,” said a Delhi Tourism official.

The government is planning to make fully functional the free Wi-Fi facility at Dilli Haat by month-end.

“Till then several rounds of free Wi-Fi would be carried out this month,” said a government social.

At present, the Delhi Tourism is planning to arrange a free Wi-Fi facility which would help nearly 100 tourists to simultaneously.   The private telecom company has already set up a network of optical fibres in the Dilli Haat area and during trial runs it plans to fine tune and strengthen the signals of the Wi-FI facility, said an official.

According to sources in the department, the success and popularity of free Wi-Fi at INA Dilli Haat will determine if similar facility should be created at Dilli Haats at Janakpuri and Pitampura.

During a meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the Delhi Tourism officials were cautioned that the free Wi-Fi at Dilli Haat should not suffer from hiccups similar to those experienced during New Delhi Municipal Council’s similar scheme.
The Council has started free Wi-Fi facility in Connaught Place, Khan Market and Supreme Court.

In the initial days, the service was marred by connectivity issues, raising doubts whether free Wi-Fi would ever be able to become a commercially viable model.
DH News Service