Govt rolls out Hy-Fi project with 1K hotspots in Hyderabad

​Hyderabad: Taking forward the promise of providing world-class IT facilities, Telangana government, on Tuesday, launched the ‘Hyderabad City Wi-Fi Project’ also known as Hy-Fi, with over 1,000 hotspots across the capital.

Mayor Bonthu Rammohan inaugurated the ambitious project and it will eventually cover 3,000 hotspot locations in the city. Principal Secretary, ITE&C Department Jayesh Ranjanand GHMC Commissioner B Janardhan Reddy and several other officials were present.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Rammohan said, “Being the new State of the country, Telangana aspires to be the best State in all aspects. Hy-Fi will set another example making Hyderabad a truly connected city even on the digital front.”

In June 2015, under the ‘Digital Telangana’ umbrella, the Government of Telangana has launched the pilot version of Hyderabad City Wi-Fi Project (Hy-Fi).

The pilot project saw the government partner with ISPs to provide free Wi-Fi for 30 minutes at approximately 100 public locations across Hyderabad. These locations include malls, tourist spots, public offices, police stations, government schools and colleges, etc.

Over the last two years, the number has more than doubled to cover about 250 locations. With the success of the pilot project, the governmenthas decided to expand the project to cover more than 3,000 locations across Hyderabad. At present, over 1,000 hotspots are being installed with an assured bandwidth of 5-10 Mbps offering 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi.

Jayesh Ranjan said, “Digital India is the future and Telangana is marching ahead to achieve this dream. Hy-Fi is another pro-people initiative where citizens will avail free Wi-Fi to do their work. Businessmen, shopkeepers, entrepreneurs, students, women and tourists will benefit from this service.”

GHMC Commissioner B Janardhan Reddy said, “Hy-Fi is another major achievement for the city with the citizens being the major benefactors of the service. With the high penetration of smart phones, free Wi-Fi will be a boost for the people. It will surely enhance the lifestyle of the citizens”.

COAI, apex industry association of telecom services providers, mobile and internet companies, is the technical advisor to the Government of Telangana in this project. It is represented by Rajan S Mathews, director general, COAI on the panel.

Mathews was joined by several leaders from the telecom industry including Venkatesh Vijayraghavan, Circle CEO – Bharti Airtel, Bala Malladi, CEO – ACT Fibernet and Sujit Sen, Circle CEO – Indus Towers.

Highlighting the significant role of the telecom industry, Venkatesh Vijayraghavan, Circle CEO – Bharti Airtel said: "Airtel has been a partner in the Government’s Digital India vision and we are delighted to support Hy-fi, the country's largest and fastest public Wi-Fi network.

Addressing the gathering, Bala Malladi, CEO – ACT Fibernet said, “With the growing number of citizens moving towards digital economy, our partnership with the Telangana government will bolster the internet connectivity in Hyderabad.

More than ,1,000 hotspots will be installed in the coming months across the city and it will enable users to access high-speed internet both inside their homes and at other places outside. Sujit Sen, Circle CEO – Indus Towers, CEO of Wireless Broadband Alliance Shrikant Shenwai also spoke.