NDMC, MTNL tie up to offer Wi-fi services in CP, Khan Mkt

It has been listed under Smart City agenda in the civic body’s 2016-17 budget

NEW DELHI: New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), with a view to ensuring free Wi-fi access in important business and leisure centres of New Delhi including Khan Market and Connaught Place, has announced a tie-up with MTNL in a fresh attempt at offering free internet connectivity in its areas.

The NDMC officials said that the move will attract visitors to these areas after reports of poor connectivity.

Notably, the Council had earlier partnered with Tata Docomo in 2014 to provide the service in inner and outer circles of Connaught Place and Khan Market. The civic body had claimed that the service is the largest in India.

At present, the service can be availed by 5,000 people with an average speed of 512 Kbps. The first 20 minutes within a 24-hour period is entirely free after which scratch cards can be purchased in various denominations from the market.

However, visitors and traders have been complaining for months that the service is not functioning seamlessly, a claim confirmed by the civic authorities. “We had earlier launched the services with full preparation, but the plan did not work well. Initially, it worked fine but the connectivity has been slow lately,” a senior NDMC official said.

“New Delhi Municipal Council Smart City Limited, a public limited company wholly owned by NDMC, has signed a joint venture with Millennium Telecom Limited (MTL), a subsidiary of MTNL, to develop telecom access networks in our areas to provide FTTH (Fibre to the Home) to the residents,” he said.

The project has also been listed on the civic body’s “Smart City” agenda in the budget for 2016-17 presented last week. It plans to begin the new services in Connaught Place and then proceed to other areas. NDMC had in 2015 announced that all the areas under its jurisdiction will soon be a Wi-fi zone and had joined hands with Indus Towers Limited to replace 18,500 street-light poles in its areas with ‘Nextgen digital poles’ which will be fitted with Wi-fi access points, LED bulbs and CCTV cameras which, it claimed, is first-of-its kind initiative in the world.

However, the project had taken a back seat with the Delhi high court directing NDMC to not sign the contract for award of tender till it hears a plea filed by Reliance Jio challenging the tender process. Fresh tenders have now been floated for the purpose.