The State government will soon unveil 500 Wi-Fi-enabled locations in Mumbai, another 700 to follow

The Maharashtra State government’s plan to convert Mumbai into India’s first Wi-Fi city is in full swing. The Hindustan Times (HT)reports that the plan is to set up over 6,000 MTNL hotspots at 1,200 locations across the city. The publication clarifies that speeds offered will be in the 20 Mbps range and that 1GB of data or 30 minutes of use, whichever comes first, will be free. The project will be launched in a phased manner, with 500 locations, including slums and tourist hotspots, as the first targets. The date of launch, which was earlier set at 9 January, has apparently yet to be finalised, but a senior government official has reportedly told HT that the launch will happen “soon”. Another source tells HT that another 6,000 hotspots at 700 locations will be activated by May. The launch will occur in time for the BMC elections in February. Larsen and Toubro is in charge of the project, which was delayed by more than a month owing to difficulty in procuring the requisite hardware. HT reports that the cost of each access point is “about Rs 2.5 lakh”. The total cost will be in excess of Rs 125 crore.