India will see a ramp-up in Wi-Fi hotspots and deployment of CCTVs in 2018
The Central government is giving a major push to Wi-Fi with plans to deploy 7.5 lakh public internet hotspots by the end of 2018.
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By 2018 Google will complete its deployment of Wi-Fi hotspots at 800 railway stations.
Wi-Fi helps people get online, while closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) ensure security.
Both are basic building blocks of any smart city. In India, the penetration of both is woefully inadequate, keeping large parts of the population unconnected and unwatched. India has a mere 31,000 Wi-Fi hotspots compared with 1.3 crore in France and 98 lakh in the United States, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. And the United Kingdom has one CCTV for every 14 people, while India is believed to be nowhere near, though exact figures are not available. But both Wi-Fi and CCTV could get a big push in 2018.
For instance, Indian Railways wants to ensure 2018 is safer for women by installing Wi-Fi routers on trains and in railway stations and CCTVs across all stations. The Central government is giving a major push to Wi-Fi with plans to deploy 7.5 lakh public internet hotspots by the end of 2018. The Wi-Fi rollout, mainly focussed on providing high-speed internet in semi-urban and rural areas, will be carried out by Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and state-owned BSNL, apart from internet services providers (ISPs).
This will help push e-governance and digital development initiatives, including the government’s Digital India programme. By 2018 Google will complete its deployment of Wi-Fi hotspots at 800 railway stations; 227 stations are already online, with an average of 75 lakh users accessing the internet via these hotspots.
CCTV will see twin changes in 2018 — more deployments and a switch from analogue to internet protocol-based cameras. The video surveillance market is expected to more than treble from $700 million in 2017 to $2.5 billion by 2020. Most of the cameras will be installed in public places and commercial establishments, with the share of households at just 13%.
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In Delhi, the government plans to install at least 1.4 lakh CCTVs next year. Bosch, Honeywell, Videocon, Panasonic are among the companies eyeing the CCTV market. By the end of 2018, India might still fall short of global averages in public internet access and cameras, but will definitely be better placed than before.
