Google CEO Sundar Pichai during the visit of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to company headquarters on Sunday announced making internet
facilities available at 500 railway stations in India.
Pichai wrote in a blog that internet facilities will be made
available for more than 10 million people by connecting 100railway stations initially,
followed by the rest in quick succession.
"The network will expand quickly to cover 100 of the
busiest stations in India before the end of 2016, with the remaining stations
following in quick succession. Even with just the first 100 stations online,
this project will make Wi-Fi available for the more than 10 million people who
pass through every day. This will rank it as the largest public Wi-Fi project
in India, and among the largest in the world, by number of potential
users," he wrote.
"I'm very proud to announce that it's the train
stations of India that are going to help get millions of people online. In the
past year, 100 million people in India started using the Internet for the first
time. This means there are now more Internet users in India than in every
country in the world aside from China. But what's really astounding is the fact
that there are still nearly one billion people in India who aren't
online," he wrote.
Talking abou his connect with the country's largest
transport network, Pichai wrote, "When I was a student, I relished the
day-long railway journey I would make from Chennai Central station (then known
as Madras Central) to IIT Kharagpur. I vividly remember the frenetic energy at
the various stations along the way and marveled at the incredible scale and
scope of Indian Railways."
Pichai reminisced the days when he travelled to and fro from
Chennai Central railway station saying, "Just like I did years ago,
thousands of young Indians walk through Chennai Central every day, eager to
learn, to explore and to seek opportunity. It's my hope that this Wi-Fi project
will make all these things a little easier."
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