Hyderabad : In a bid to develop Hyderabad as a global smart city, the Telangana State government, in association with Airtel, launched Wi-Fi hotspots across 17 locations in the city on Friday, delivering high-speed Internet to citizens free of cost.

Announcing the ‘Internet for All’ initiative, IT and panchayat raj minister K.T. Rama Rao said, “It is a pilot project where we are testing the waters across 17 locations before extending full-fledged hotspot connectivity to the entire city.”

The Wi-Fi hotspots have been set up on the following stretches: Cyber Towers- Madhapur police station, Cyber Towers-Kothaguda junction and Cyber Towers-Raheja Mindspace circle covering 8 km.

The hotspots will provide users with 750MB of data per day at 4.2 MBPS speed for a three-month trial period. It will be available to all mobile users, across service providers.

Venkatesh Vijayraghvan, the Bharti Airtel CEO, Telangana and AP, said, “To avail the service, users must select the Wi-Fi network through their mobile devices in these locations.

On selecting the public Wi-Fi, a one-time password (OTP) will be sent to their mobile number. They can then latch on to the Wi-Fi after authentication of the password, and enjoy Internet services of up to 750 MB per day per user.”

“After completion of the pilot project, the company may think of pricing the service,” the CEO added.

Calling on other telecom players to set up similar services in the city, Mr Rao said the government would extend support to increase connectivity. He clarified that the financials were being handled by Airtel, as it is an Airtel initiative, and the TS government is just supporting the “Internet for All” initiative.