Hyderabad Drafting Plans to Make Entire City Wi-Fi Enabled

Officials have been asked to draft a master plan by engaging international consultants and involving Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, revenue, electricity, Hyderabad Metro Rail and sports departments, said a government statement.

Minister for Information Technology K. Taraka Rama Rao mooted an institute of innovation for training engineering students to compete with global standards.

He also suggested a separate authority for the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) project for creating a hub for electronic hardware manufacturing units.

Harpreet Singh, secretary of the information technology and communications department, has informed Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao that 90 percent of the turnover of the IT sector was coming from Hyderabad, with a total turnover of Rs. 62,293 crore.

Hyderabad is the second largest IT exporter in the country. He said there was a lot scope for further development of software and hardware technology sectors in Hyderabad.

Last week, Tata Docomo announced a partnership with the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to provide public Wi-Fi services in the Connaught Place (CP) area of the capital from the first week of July.

Covering more than 4 kilometres, the deployment of Wi-Fi hotspot in CP is aimed at ensuring seamless connectivity in the inner and outer circles of the area, Tata Docomo said in a statement.

The first 20 minutes of the service would be free of cost and after that one has the options of buying a plan online or through purchase of scratch cards, starting from Rs. 20 for 40 minutes.

Written with agency inputs