Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, announced that Google would provide high-speed Internet services at 100 Indian railway stations initially and would expand this to another 400 by next year after collaborating with Indian Railways.
The announcement came during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Google headquarters.
A presentation of Google Earth was shown to PM Modi showing the ghats of his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi during a tour of the Google campus showcasing the latest products and forward-looking researches.
Google released a map of the first 100 railway stations that will get high-speed Wi-Fi in India. According to Google’s official blog, “Even with just the first 100 stations online, the project will make Wi-Fi available for the more than 10 million people who pass through every day.”
The blog also claimed that this will be the largest public Wi-Fi project in India and among the largest in the world by number of potential users.
He appreciated and encouraged Google to develop Apps which could benefit the common man as he participated in Hackathon under which its employees sat for 15 hours straight to devise such apps for use in India.
Recalling his young days when he used to travel by train from Chennai to Kharagpur, Pichai noted that 25 million people daily ride the Indian Railways which has 7500 stations.
He added, “We’d like to help get these next billion Indians online so they can access the entire web, and all of its information and opportunity. And not just with any old connection — with fast broadband so they can experience the best of the web.”
