Free WiFi project for Delhi finally becomes reality

New Delhi: With the tenure of the Arvind Kejriwal government about to end, the Aam Aadmi Party government has announced that it will fulfil its poll promise of giving free WiFi hotspots in the city with inauguration of the first 100 hotspots on December 16.

The party, since it came to power in February 2015, had been saying that the work on the project is underway. However, the city had been waiting for the free internet.

Now, with the Kejriwal government about to complete its tenure, they announced that the city will get about 11,000 hotspots in the next six months.

One of the AAP's flagship project, the WiFi installation had missed a number of deadlines set by the government. Now, for providing free internet to the city by installing 11,000 WiFi hotspots across the national capital, the government has set September 2020 as the new deadline.

In its 2015 manifesto, the AAP had promised to make WiFi freely available in public spaces across Delhi. "Citywide WiFi can help in bridging the digital divide. It will also provide an impetus to education, entrepreneurship, business, employment, and also tie in with women's safety initiatives," the manifesto reads.

The party, which was also in power for 49 days in 2013-14, said in the 2015 manifesto that the internet and telecom companies have been approached and a high-level feasibility study has been done in consultation with them. The AAP came back to power with a landslide victory in February 2015.