Bhubaneswar: There is good news for denizens of the city as the City-Wide Wi-Fi Project will be a reality soon.
In Phase-I, 100 locations across the city will become Wi-Fi enabled.
The project is part of Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited and the Wi-Fi project is also part of the Master System Integrator (MSI) project, to be executed by Honeywell. The entire MSI will also include the Bhubaneswar Operations Centre, Intelligent Traffic Signal and Control System and Common Payment Card System so that all the IT-based systems across the Smart City can function in sync.
In the first phase, stretches like KIIT Square to Governor House Square, Gopabandhu Square to Governor House Square, Airport to Acharya Vihar, Acharya Vihar to Nalco Square, Kalpana Square to Rasulgarh Square, Shishu Bhavan to Vani Vihar and main points between Rasulgarh Square will be covered.
These stretches are taken from the 80 km Priority Road Network of the city, which is on the priority list of the city administration.
According to sources, launching of Phase-I of the Wi-Fi network with 100 locations would be followed by 200 locations in Phase-II. It will add up later and there will be 518 locations across the city to complete the City Wide Wi-Fi Network.
However, it would be pertinent to clarify here that not every inch of the 80-km priority road network will be covered. One would have to be within 100, 200 or 300 metres reach of the access point to log in to the network.
How to access, payment options
In the first phase, a user can get free Wi-Fi access for 15 minutes/50 MB data daily. After the time/consumption of data, he/she has to login and choose a payment plan for subsequent use. The Internet speed would be 2 MBPS in the city Wi-Fi network. However, the payment modalities and plans are yet to be decided.
The 100 locations service is almost ready and the trials are on. The project will be launched very soon, said an official.