Bangalore:
Bangalore has become the first city in India to have free wifi hotspots.
The project, launched at the iconic MG Road in central Bangalore, allows a person to browse upto three hours a day and download upto 50 MB of data.
Five different locations including MG road in the city now have free wifi and the IT department of Karnataka wants to spread it to 10 more locations by next month.
The project is in its pilot phase and Bangalore-based service provider D-VoiS is involved in the implementation.
"We are trying to make this as safe as possible. A person logs in, and we at our server will be able to check who is logging in, through what instrument or handset, what he is checking, downloading etc... so it is completely safe, said Srivatsa Krishna, IT Secretary, Karnataka government.
"The service provider has set up HD cameras in the locations which can also help in a big way when it comes to security, not just the content on net," Mr Krishna added.
The free wifi comes along with apps too. Soon to be active will be the parking app, the garbage app and the likes. The parking app can show the nearest slot for parking and the garbage app would tell you the nearest garbage throw away point.
"These days the youngsters and all of us are nothing without bandwidth. We all need internet. Browsing, Twitter, Facebook, downloading movies... wow we are all so connected. And this according to me makes us feel empowered. We will be sending out the right message to investors. I dream of the day when each youngster can say he has access to the internet." said Mohandas Pai, former Infosys board member and advisor to the Government's ambitious IT Vision.
"I have tried logging on and it is fast. If am around Brigade with friends I could check which eating joints are available, what's new and so on" said Sindhu, a student in Bangalore.
The youngest city as it may be, Bangalore is also the start-up city where young entrepreneurs, especially those creating cool apps, find this space as an opportunity for their little start up to 'click'.