The telecom arm of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, made Kolkata the first metro city to offer public 4G Wi-Fi service in India. The service was launched at Park Street in Kolkata by the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee. Currently, the Wi-Fi service of Reliance Jio is available from Park Street Metro Station to Mullick Bazar Junction. Reliance has planned to make the entire city Wi-Fi enabled in two months’ time.
Statement by the Chief Minister
At the inaugural function of the 39th Calcutta International Book Fair, the Chief Minister announced that Reliance Jio has installed optical fiber cable connections that will cover 2,000 kms, in the last two years. With this, Reliance Jio has accomplished over 90% of its work in the city. It will be covering another 250-300 kms in the next couple of months. Reliance Jio will cover all 149 wards of the city and also focus on the areas of Greater Kolkata.
With this new development, Kolkata will become the first global knowledge hub in the country. The Chief Minister said that the free Wi-Fi will especially cater to the youth. “This will transform Kolkata into a networked society – smart, simple and secure,” she added.
Service in Kolkata
Kolkata will soon compete with cities like Singapore and Taipei that give Wi-Fi services to people in the entire city. According to the Eastern Head of Reliance Jio, Tarun Jhunjhunwala, the service in Kolkata will be the best of its kind. Reliance Jio has announced that this unlimited Wi-Fi service in the city will be free not only till the launch but for the entire year. Early test results have shown a constant speed up to 50 mbps.
Reliance Jio’s 4G launch
Reliance Jio has made an investment of about Rs. 3,300 crores to provide 4G services in the state. Before the official commercial launch in March 2015, Reliance Jio is giving free services and trial runs to test efficiency and boost popularity.
Preparations by Reliance Jio
Reliance Jio is the only organization in the country to hold a pan-India Broadband Wireless Access spectrum license, which was acquired in 2010. This enables the organization to offer 4G services in any part of India.
It also acquired ISP (Internet Service Provider) license through acquisition of Infotel Broadband Services.
Besides, Reliance Jio has a Unified License (UL) that it got in October 2013. With this license, the company can make use of any technology to give different telecom services.
Reliance Jio rolled out its public Wi-Fi services in April and May, 2014 in Gujarat. It chose cities of Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Surat for this.
Summary
Reliance Jio Infocomm launched free 4G Wi-Fi services in Kolkata, making it the first metro city to get this in India.