Google Wi-Fi to make Indian railstations more manageable

Apple is pushing into China, but Google is also targeting its own new markets, with India on the top of the list. Google Wi-Fi is going to be the next best thing that the Mountain View giant tries to do in order to grow their business and market share and to snuff out Apple’s widespread presence and influence. Facebook has already been doing free internet for some time in the area, and now it’s Google’s turn to invest in making Indian commutes better and as such, the company more loved.

Google Wi-Fi is the best way the company can do just that, and it has already announced that about 400 Indian rail stations will be outfitted with the service. Google Wi-Fi will be free for all and aims to make transportation and long, crowded commutes just a bit easier to get by. As we all know, India has a transportation problem when it comes to railways: crowded trains. Maybe with the help of unified ,free Google Wi-Fi, things could be improved.

Indian Railways and RailTel have agreed with Google to outfit 100 of the busiest railway stations with free Google Wi-Fi by the end of 2016. These stations would already cover about 10 million passengers a day who use the stations, but the plan is to have at least 400 interconnected stations in India.

Initially, Google Wi-Fi will be completely free, but CEO Sundar Pichai said that the ultimate aim of the project is to become self-sustainable. Further details of how that will happen were not disclosed, but they most likely involve advertising. With Google and India’s government working together despite the current investigation Indian authorities are conducting into Google’s anti-competitive advertising practices, Google Wi-Fi is believed to become a standard occurrence in the country soon.

The first few stations will be opening up Google Wi-Fi access in the next couple of months, with more to be added gradually. The companies involved have a lot of work to do if they want to be able to supply free Wi-Fi for the more than 21 million daily travelers that end up in train stations at one point or another in their day. A timeline of when the project should be completed has not been disclosed, so we’re looking forward to hearing more as the project develops.