Mumbai is assured for fastest public Wi-Fi rollout by a State Government

The optic fiber laid for the CCTV network in Mumbai will be re-purposed for a rapid rollout of public Wi-Fi by the Maharashtra State Government, according to officials. This will allow for the

deployment of ubiquitous public Wi-Fi without the need for further digging and setting up poles. Mumbai is on track to be a Wi-Fi city by May 2017.

We are making Mumbai Wi-Fi city by May 2017 with 1200 hotspots at important locations: CM@Dev_Fadnavis

— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) August 5, 2016

Out of these 1200 hotspots, 500 will be rolled out by November 2017. This will be the first phase of the roll out. The innovative approach here is to use existing infrastructure to roll out public Wi-Fi. The hotspots will be available in municipal wards, landmarks, public places and slums where the CCTV cameras are set up. The government is mulling over pricing models.

The plan is currently to give free Wi-Fi for an initial number of minutes or gigabytes, and then start charging for continued access. A feasibility test showed that speeds up to 20 Mbps were possible, according to a report in DNA.

The public Wi-Fi network will take some load off the telecom service providers, clearing up the spectrum for other uses. This is also a first step towards using these networks for connected cars, internet of things, and moving towards smart cities.

This is yet another important step after CCTV project towards making Mumbai a #SmartCity : CM@Dev_Fadnavis

— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) August 5, 2016

Google and Railtel, the telecommunications wing of the Indian Railways have already deployed free public Wi-Fi in Mumbai Central railway station. This allows for passengers to use significantly more data, and be better connected than they would have been, if they were dependent on cellular data only. Trai has issued a consultation paper on public Wi-Fi, where it intends to replace PCOs with Wi-Fi hotspots to provide an additional source of income for shopkeepers and unemployed youth in underserved areas.

There is however, a security problem when it comes to the roll out of city wide Wi-Fi networks. These can potentially create honeypots that are ripe for strikes by malicious hackers who can execute man in the middle attacks or intercept data.