Lutyens’Bunglow Zone to get free wi-fi

NEW DELHI: The stately Lutyens’ Bunglow Zone in central Delhi will soon have a new attraction: by November, the entire area will offer free wireless internet connectivity.

The amenity will let people surf the net, stream music, watch movies and play games effortlessly. But there’s a catch. Gobbling up data will be free for the first 15 minutes only. Also, the service will be monitored closely to check illegal downloads.

“As soon as the election code of conduct is lifted in June, work will begin on this project,” New Delhi Municipal Corporation head Jalaj Shrivastava told ET, adding that 4m-tall pillars with wi-fi routers and security cameras will be installed across the area.

According to Shrivastava, no costing has been chalked out yet for the pilot project, which will be executed in the public-privatepartnership (PPP) mode. The time till June will be used to identify RFP operators for the project, he said.

The wi-fi plan for Delhi comes close on the heels of a similar service being launched on Bangalore’s MG Road that allows users to browse up to three hours a day and download up to 50 MB of data.

Last year, India had over 51 million smartphone users and the number is set to rise as devices become cheaper.