Bhubaneswar, July 30: The city would get wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) Internet service from August 14 for a month on an experimental basis.
During the trial run, residents would get free Internet service through the Wi-Fi network of different service providers. The users are expected to give their feedbacks to the companies and the authorities - which would help in choosing the firm that would provide the permanent service in the future.
An official with the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) said six Internet service providers had been chosen for the trial that would work as proof of concept (PoC) for Wi-Fi project in Bhubaneswar.
The proof of concept is the demonstration of a potential product or service before its full use to assess its feasibility. The STPI is an autonomous society working under the Union ministry of communication and information technology. The state government has chosen the STPI as the nodal agency for the project.
The private firms chosen for the PoC stage of the project include Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone, Bharati Inffratel, Orange Softech and Ortel.
The official said the proof of concept would focus on several parameters such as reliability and robustness, cost-effectiveness, timeliness, compatibility of the technology to the ecosystem, customer feedback and user friendliness. Besides, they would also check the regulatory and security compliances, legal aspects and use of the existing set-up and whether the new system would be able to meet the users' expectations.
Director of the STPI, Bhubaneswar, Manas Ranjan Panda said all the six operators had been assigned specific zones in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation area to conduct the proof of concept.
"The PoC has already been operational, and by end of the second week of August, people will be able to use the service. For the next one month, they would use the service and give their feedback," said Panda.
He said all these operators would provide high-speed Internet services or at least service at a minimum speed of 512kbps (kilo-bytes per second) with the wireless network, and this would be done at their own cost.
The PoC was supposed to start this month. But due to Nabakalebar, the project could not get co-operation among the departments and the concerned agencies.
The authorities have earmarked 10 places in the city where the companies would provide service during the trial phase.
The operators have to choose any one location where it would conduct the PoC. The scope of the work allows the operators to design, build, operate and manage the wireless Internet service during this one month.
Panda said that once the public scrutiny or the feedback stage was over, they would incorporate all the opinions of the users to prepare the request for proposal for the project in Bhubaneswar.
The proposal for launching the Wi-Fi facility at public places in the city had come in August last.
Residents are ecstatic about the experiment and hopeful that they would shortly get the service at public places like other metro cities in the country.
"It's a good that we will get Internet facility at public places. Internet is now treated as a basic need for one and all. The authorities should ensure high-speed Internet," said Pabitra Goahan, a student.
