Almost eight months after Google announced its plans to provide Wi-Fi connections across 100 railway stations, Facebook has now come forward to provide the same across multiple railway stations in India.
The social media giant will collaborate with Indian Railways communications arm RailTel to provide this service, reports Economic Times.
“Facebook India has approached us for the Wi-Fi initiative. We will engage with the company for the expansion of our internet access programme across railways stations to cover villages in the vicinity,” said RK Bahuguna, chairman of RailTel.
RailTel is currently installing Railwire-branded WiFi hotspots in collaboration with Google and aims to connect at least 100 railway stations with data network by the year end.
However, RailTel wants to extend the internet coverage to smaller railway stations making it available to neighbouring villages via additional access points. About 2 million people will have access to free WiFi every month across 21 railway stations.
“Through this (Facebook) initiative, we will be able to offer data services up to a 10-km radius from a connected rail stop, which however can further be increased by up to 25 km via additional access points,” Bahuguna added.