<div><em>The wireless hotspots will be ready in three phases, says <strong>Haider Ali</strong></em><br><br>The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the industry association for the development of the converged wireless broadband ecosystem, has announced the establishment of a Connected City Board.</div><div> </div><div>Speaking at the occasion, journalist turned politician, Ashish Khetan, vice chairman of Delhi Dialogue Commission, government of NCT of Delhi said, “During elections Wi-Fi connectivity was one of the major demand that people asked for and we will soon be able to provide free Wi-Fi connection at pre-defined locations at affordable rates as people cannot afford to pay for the internet in most of the cases.”</div><div> </div><div>He also pointed out call drops are still common even as we are moving towards 4G technology. He said that RFP is almost ready and will be available in public domain soon regarding the plan to provide free Wi-Fi.</div><div> </div><div>He informed the audience that it will be launched in three phases. In the first phase, it will be available in all government and private colleges and in second phase it will be available in 275 villages of Delhi and in the third phase it will be launched in all the un-authorised colonies of Delhi. For that 3,000 hotspots will be set up, he said.</div><div> </div><div>The Aam Admi Party (AAP) is the first start-up in politics, he said.</div><div> </div><div>“Digital India is the priority of the government as still 800 million populations is not connected with the internet,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament and a technology entrepreneur.</div><div> </div><div>He also added that we are paying for Mbps but we are getting the speed of Kbps. The main aim of Digital India is to bring government and governance at the user friendly level, at the door steps of people. He pointed that there is only 8.6 per cent of internet penetration in rural India as compared to urban areas where it is merely 37 per cent.</div><div> </div><div>He also quoted a World Bank report which says that for every 10 per cent increase in broadband connectivity, there is an increase of 1 per cent in GDP.</div><div> </div><div>He informed the gathering that Bharat Net has the goal of laying 950 kilometres of fibre cable optics every day. He also urged for private players to come in help the government in making India a digital democracy.</div><div> </div><div>Chandrasekhar criticised the decision of AAP government in Delhi of providing free Wi-Fi connectivity as it will lead to deteriorating quality and chaos. He also urged for co-operation among Centre and States as there are fundamental flaws in the accountability. </div><div> </div><div>The board aims to help deliver the vision of connected cities being pursued by a growing number of cities from around the world. It provides an exclusive platform for city managers and CIOs to share knowledge and create the best practices with their counterparts in other cities and also determine the best way to encourage public-private partnerships.</div><div> </div><div>The Board will continue to focus on development of the connected city plans and blue prints, creation of public-private ecosystems and collaboration mechanisms for resource contributions.</div><div> </div>
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