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This is The First City in India That Google Will Make Completely Wi-Fi Enabled

Getting the complete city wi-fi enabled is the new concept in itself and Google is making this dream come true in the Pune city which
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Getting the complete city wi-fi enabled is the new concept in itself and Google is making this dream come true in the Pune city which will be the first city in India that will get wi-fi enabled by the Google. According to the sources, the internet giant, Google has cracked the deal with Pune Smart City Development Corporation to make the entire city WI-FI enabled. The contract will be executed by the Google in association with the top most IT companies like IBM, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and a local company RailTel, said the sources.

After the initiative of the Indian government towards making the smart cities across India, this is purdahs the fist city which has taken the forward step towards the direction of making the city smart in the real sense. The sources have revealed that the internet major giant Google in collaboration with the companies like IBM and L&T along with the local entities like RailTel and PSCSCL (Pune Smart City Development Corporation) have contracted the deal to make the Pune city WI-FI enabled.

According to the sources, the contract with Google has valued at Rs. 150 crore which includes the capital investment expenditure, operating cost and revenue sharing elements. The Pune Municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar told the media that, “15-20% revenue generated through this citywide Wi-Fi network will be shared with the authority”. Based on the understanding, the Google will deploy its Google Station platform that has WI-FI network enabled management capability and focuses on monetization to make the service self-sustainable. The role of the RailTel, on the other hand, is to provide last-mile fiber connectivity to enable Wi-Fi hotspots at around 200 strategic locations across the city. “The plan is to integrate all public places on a single platform to aggregate Wi-Fi hotspots that will allow access with one-time authentication,” Kumar added.

WI-FI ENABLED CITY (SOURCE)

Likewise, the Larsen & Toubro will be performing the duties of master system integrator for the Pune Smart City project and it will help integrate everything together, Srinivasan Ramamurthy, Lead -Smart World And Communication Business at the company, told ET. He added that the company will also set up emergency call boxes and public address systems, environmental sensors, variable messaging displays, network connectivity and video analytics integration.

The Google is in process of expanding its Google Station platform to provide the WI-FI enabled services beyond railways stations to the places that are frequented by the large number of people, such as Malls, Transit Stations, Social Hangout Places such as cafes and universities, said the sources. The company had previously said that it will be partnering with large venues and organizations, network operators, fiber providers, system integrators and infrastructure companies to provide Wi-Fi in city areas. Google and IBM didn’t comment on ET queries on the contract.           

Google has so far been working with RailTel and Indian Railways to provide high-speed Wi-Fi at 400 railway stations throughout the country. So far, over 100 railway stations have been equipped with Wi-Fi hotspots. As part of the Pune project, Google is also working with RailTel and L&T for variable message displays (VMD) that will be used to deliver important information and messages across 161 locations in the city.      

“One of the important things that we are doing is Wi-Fi, and then we are also establishing the emergency call box and public drop box and environmental sensors…We are working with RailTel for connectivity and Google for putting advertisements,” L&T’s Ramamurthy said. “Google will help us in monetization through advertisements.”     

Under the deal, IBM is providing its smart city solutions that will work as the backbone of the Pune smart city. IBM is also helping L&T set up a Smart City Operation Centre (SCOC) to integrate all the services and applications on a single platform, which will be able to accommodate all future needs through integration of various citizen-centric applications. It will integrate 49 applications, said the sources. 

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