Enjoy free internet service at 10 railway stations, thanks to Google

As a part of its tie up with Indian Railways’ internet provider Railtel, Google has extended free internet service through WiFi to 10 railway stations in India.

The first such service was launched at the Mumbai Central station last year, and now, the high-speed wireless broadband service covers Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Ranchi, Raipur, Vijayawada, Kacheguda (Hyderabad), Ernakulum Jn (Kochi) and Vishakhapatnam.

"As internet adoption grows in India, easy and affordable access to high-speed networks is the real need of the hour," Gulzar Azad, Head of Access Project, Google India, told ET. He also added that efforts are on so that the network can quickly be provided to smaller stations with limited connectivity.

By the end of this year, Google and RailTel aim to cover 100 stations, one-fifth of what Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced when he visited India in December last year.

The service will be free for a reasonable time, but government aims to make this project self-sustainable in the future, so that it can be expanded to more stations and places.

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