Bangalore to be unwired soon

BANGALORE: The Silicon Valley of India could soon be on par with cities like San Jose, Philadelphia, Westminster and Taipei. Karnataka government, in association with industry, is planning to make Bangalore a "Wi-Fi Zone", that will provide easy and seamless Internet access to individuals, households and corporates, sans cable wires, modems or dial-up devices.

Speaking to The Times of India, state IT secretary M K Shankaralinge Gowda said the project would be a joint effort between government, companies like Intel, and Internet service providers. "We are currently in the process of drafting a viable business model. And only after that we will have clarity on issues like revenue sharing, implementation and cost of the services," he said. The state is also planning to come out with a wireless policy to facilitate Wi-Fi initiatives.

The city has over 200 hot-spots (wireless Internet access points). "We'll leverage on the existing optic fibre cable network that lies around the city to run this project, thereby making Wi-Fi/WiMAX literally the last mile access," he said.

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