p*******m 发帖数: 20761 | 5 Google bringing high-speed WiFi to 400 Indian train stations
by: EDGAR CERVANTES
1 HOUR AGO
modi-sundar
Google’s main concern is getting people online, obviously due to the fact
that most of their profits come from internet users; and hopefully because
they want to help out, too. Regardless, it makes sense that they focus on
emerging markets, as this is where most new internet users will come from.
According to Internet Live Stats, only around 40% of the world population
has an internet connection, and you can be sure this is something Google is
working on changing.
Projects such as Android One, YouTube offline, Google Maps offline and
Project Loon are only some of Google’s initiatives to bring a better online
experience to emerging markets like India. Today the Mountain View-based
tech company announces another big move to get millions of train commuters
online, after welcoming Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Googleplex
for a visit.
The Search Giant is collaborating with Indian Railways and RailTel to bring
WiFi to 400 train stations in India. And Google claims this is not your
usual internet connection, it is said to be “high-speed” broadband, which
will be “many times faster than what most people in India have access to
today”.
IndiaWifi-kash
Google will launch this new service on 100 of the busiest stations, which
should be online by the end of 2016. Other locations will follow soon
afterwards. Regardless, this is a good advancement, as the first 100
stations should cover about 10 million users who take advantage of these
stations every single day.
With over 300 million active users in India, this country ranks second in
number of internet surfers, only surpassed by China. The kicker here is
there are still about a billion Indians offline, which are the ones Google
is trying to target here.
WiFi coffee shutterstock
ShutterStock
The best part? This service will be completely free at first. Yes… at first
. In the long run, Google expects the service to be “self-sustainable” and
get some profits in order to further expand to new stations.
So there you have it, fellow Indian techies! Soon you will be enjoying
internet at many of your train stations, all thanks to Google’s efforts to
get as many users online as possible. I just have to wonder how fast is “
high speed internet”. Google is not specifying speeds, which definitely
makes us very curious. |