The Hindu : Finally, wireless Net access for the rest of us

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 17, 2003

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National

Finally, wireless Net access for the rest of us

By Anand Parthasarathy

Bangalore Nov. 16. One year after the Indian Government decided to unshackle the radio band required to make Wi-Fi — access to the Internet without wires — happen, lay users can finally harness this technology, either free or at an affordable price.

If your laptop has the necessary Wireless LAN card or chip, you can access the Internet for free over five square km of Srinigar's Dal Lake and the Nehru Park within. On November 1, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, declared the Dal, the ``world's first Wi-Fi enabled lake''.

A Chennai-based networking provider, Dax Networks, who joined hands with a local Internet Service Provider (ISP) — iPeaks, made this possible.

Dax put in Rs. 10 lakhs worth of its equipment to ensure that most reaches of the Dal as well as the popular houseboat berths along its shores became one big wireless ``hotspot''. iPeaks on its part is currently making its own contribution to attracting tourists back to the Kashmir Valley. It is providing the Net access free — for now.

The country manager for Dax, Sujit Singh, told The Hindu today that the company had already established the feasibility of creating similar Wireless access zones at other tourist centres including Kumarakom in Kerala, Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu and Nainital in Uttar Pradesh. In Kerala the State Tourism Department was extremely proactive and exploring how quickly it could make a Wi-Fi hotspot in Kumarakom happen, he added.

However, the first public Wireless hotspot in South India may come up in Hyderabad at the Hussain Sagar Lake — along the Tank Bund and the Necklace Road,

Mr. Singh suggested. Dax was being discussed with two local ISPs and he was hopeful that at least one of them would partner it in creating yet another justification for the Andhra capital's nickname: Cyberabad.

'Unwired Bangalore'

Meanwhile Sify, the Internet arm of Satyam, has leveraged its nationwide network of i-way cyber cafes and franchisees to bring the unwired Net experience to three cities. Last month, it brought saturation wireless coverage to Bangalore, by creating 120 Wi-Fi hotspots or Wi-Zones, across India's Silicon City, at a cost of around Rs. 50,000 per spot. Customers can access the Net within a radius of around 50 metres on their own wireless-enabled laptops. Satyam has pegged the price at Re. 1 a minute or Rs. 60 an hour — just twice that of its normal wired cyber cafe service.

This makes it possibly, the cheapest commercial Wi-Fi service anywhere in the world.

The main advantage for Bangalore's large population of laptop-lugging techno-whiz kids, is that for a monthly subscription of between Rs. 515 and Rs. 970 they can go online virtually anywhere in the city, standing or parking close to the nearest Satyam Wi-Zone, without queuing to grab a free PC inside.

In Chennai too

Satyam has also created wireless hotspots at three locations in Chennai — the Tidel Park in Taramani, in Kasturba Nagar, Adyar and in the airport.

In Delhi it has created a hotspot inside the Indira Gandhi International airport terminal. In all these places the access charge is Rs. 60 per hour.

While major international IT companies operating in India have created a huge hype about wireless Internet for some months now, none of them has done anything significant to make the technology meaningful to the lay PC user. They have been content to beef up their own fancy high-tech offices with hotspots and helping five star hotels to create yet another high-priced service for their guests.

To their credit, two `desi' players have taken the initiative to make wireless Internet affordable and meaningful in practical terms to the janatha user.

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