Free Wi-Fi in colleges: Reliance may have to face competitors

Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 28

Though Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group expressed willingness to provide free Wi-Fi in the state-run colleges, the Department of Higher Education has decided to invite all telecom operators with their best offers before finalising the deal. The deal will provide a consumer base of over 3.5 lakh students to the chosen operator.

Sources said the move was initiated after a few private telecom operators had offered a more lucrative deal than that of Reliance.

Officials said Reliance had offered to provide Wi-Fi connectivity with free downloading capacity of 20 Mega Byte (MB) per day for a year.

“This turns out to be 0.6 Giga Byte (GB) per month. Consultations with other operators revealed that we can get a better deal. We want to see if any operator is ready to provide more free data per day. Therefore, we have decided to reach out to all private and public sector telecom operators,” said an officer.

“Around 3.5 lakh students are enrolled in 48 state-run colleges in the state. They will have to pay if they cross free download limits. Hence, we also need to see as to which operator will charge the least once students cross the maximum per day free data limit,” he added.

Significantly, in the run-up to the state Assembly elections, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had announced to provide free Wi-Fi connectivity in all schools and colleges of the state.

Reliance had offered to provide the facility when a delegation comprising top Punjab officials had met Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai this month.

Dept to invite all telecom operators

• The Department of Higher Education has decided to invite all telecom operators with their best offers before finalising the deal
• The deal will provide a consumer base of over 3.5 lakh students to the chosen operator