City to go wireless in 6 months

The Telangana government on Tuesday said several firms were coming forward to provide 4-G technology for making the entire Hyderabad, a Wi-Fi enabled city.

Officials had been asked to draft a master plan by engaging international consultants and involving Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, revenue, electricity, Hyderabad Metro Rail and sports departments, said a government statement.

Minister for Information Technology K. Taraka Rama Rao mooted an institute of innovation for training engineering students to compete with global standards.

He also suggested a separate authority for the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) project for creating a hub for electronic hardware manufacturing units.

Harpreet Singh, secretary of the information technology and communications department, had informed Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao that 90 per cent of the turnover of the IT sector was coming from Hyderabad, with a total turnover of Rs 62,293 crore.

The city was the second largest IT exporter in the country. He said there was a lot scope for further development of software and hardware technology sectors in Hyderabad.

KTR said that the incubator would be set up in collaboration with institutions like the city-based International Institute of Information Technology and Indian School of Business, besides technology partners from the industry.

"We are creating the country's biggest incubator facility where new ideas, innovations, research and development will be nurtured and nourished. We will create an environment where the government will even look at the possibility of providing seed capital as well," Rao said.

"These two ambitious goals (incubator and wi-fi initiative) shall be pursued in the next six months," he added.