Wi-Fi test at Metro tunnel successful

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), on Saturday, successfully completed testing of ‘Converged Communication’ in tunnel of Namma Metro between the under construction stretch of Central College and Majestic.

BMRCL officials said once the underground routes are operational, this state-of-the-art system would allow seamless cellular and high speed secured Wi-Fi access for passengers in the trains even when they are passing through the tunnels. “The network comes with a secured internet gateway,” they added.

BMRCL Managing Director N Sivasailam said: “It's my own experience of having to put up with no or limited or broken connectivity when I have travelled in metros globally, that drove me to ensure that Bangalore Metro commuters enjoy continuous connectivity. This facility is a first of its kind at the global level wherein most of the prominent metro organisations are still attempting to provide this kind of facility.”

Metro officials said the facility will provide foolproof authentication system and secured sessions for users of Wi-Fi.

The Wi-Fi secured zone would be hosting a number of portals for consumer convenience that include online utilities payments, e-commerce, online banking, VPN connectivity and other online facilities helping commuters effectively use their travel time, they added.

Under the BMRCL advisory, the setup was designed, conceptualised and integrated by Valuepoint System’s technical solution architects’ team and the communication equipment setup and provided by TE connectivity.

The entire setup is based on the technology known as Radio-Over-Fiber and is totally active which can accommodate, converge and integrate multiple service providers over eight bands.

Currently in India there are four bands that service providers operate, namely GSM, CDMA, WCDMA (3G) and UMTS.