The technology giant Google will power 100 railway stations in India with wi-fi connectivity by December next year. The first station that will go live next month will be Mumbai Central.
Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said –
In-principle, we are agreeable to the pilot project. Certain issues of security and harmony with the Department of Civil Aviation need to be sorted out. We will finalise that also.
He welcomed Google’s proposal to partner with BSNL for the pilot project. “We shall be expediting that. I have directed secretary Rakesh Garg to coordinate with the Defence and security agencies to expedite this process,”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOndhtfIXSY
Google, under its Project Loon, is using big balloons floating at a height of 20 kms above earth surface for transmission of Internet services. It has already tested this technology in New Zealand, California (the US) and Brazil.
As per Google, each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 kms in diameter using a wireless communications technology called LTE, or 4G.
To use LTE or 4G, Project Loon partners with telecom companies to share cellular spectrum so that people will be able to access the Internet everywhere directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices.
Google uses solar panel and wind to power electronic equipment in the balloon throughout the day.
