India is bringing free Wi-Fi to more than 1,000 villages this year
India’s government is joining everyone else in bringing internet connectivity to its citizens.
The government has chalked out an initiative called Digital Village, as part of which it aims to bring free Wi-Fi internet access to 1,050 villages across the country in the next six months.
The initiative is estimated to cost over Rs 4.2 billion ($62 million) and will be carried out through partnerships with several internet service providers, according to Aruna Sundararajan, secretary at the ministry of electronics and information technology.
The government aims to "provide basic development services to rural areas using digital technology," Sundararajan told CNN Money.
Silicon Valley giants have also been putting efforts to bring more Indians online. Google has brought free Wi-Fi to over 100 railway stations in India. Whereas its global rival Microsoft has been exploring white space to beam internet to villages. Facebook too is working on Express Wi-Fi to bring internet connectivity to more places.
Amid all of this, internet has also suddenly got cheaper in the country. New telecom operator Reliance Jio's free 4G LTE data, which helped it win over 72 million subscribers in just four months, also resulted in incumbent players making their data plans affordable.
India has over 400 million internet users, a figure that is projected to cross 730 million by 2020.
