No More ‘Stuck In Traffic Jam’ Excuse: BBMP To Provide 3,500 Free WiFi Hotspots Across All 198 Wards In City

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has announced that it will be soon providing free WiFi across the city by setting up hotspots at 3,500 locations.

In September last year, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara inaugurated a free WiFi facility at Govindaraja Nagar ward. Free internet is thus available in a three kilometre radius of the region.

The first WiFi hotspot in the city was set up back in 2014 in MG Road.

Deccan Herald quoted an official from the BBMP as saying, “After a series of meetings with the state IT Department, we have finalised around 3,500 spots to be connected through WiFi in all the 198 wards in the city”.

“Work will be taken up in a phased manner and all these spots will have WiFi connection in another four months. Around four companies have expressed interest to provide the service. The process will be finalised soon”, he added.

The free WiFi scheme was announced in BBMP’s last year’s budget but is yet materialise. This service would be offered free-of-cost for the first 30 minutes following which rates fixed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will be charged.