MALAPPURAM: Malappuram municipality will turn Wi-Fi enabled on Friday as industries minister P K Kunhalikkutty will inaugurate the ambitious Wi-Fi project.

The municipality, which is going to be the first in the country which provides free Wi-Fi to its residents, is planning to provide free internet facility to its 68,000 residents through Wi-Fi connectivity.

High speed internet connectivity with an average speed of 200 mbps would be available in uphill and down hill regions of the town in the initial phase and later the facility would be extended to all parts of municipality.

The registration for the users, for accessing free Wi-Fi has already started and the username and password would be distributed to first 5,000 applicants on Friday. College students who are non-residents of Malappuram municipality can also access the connectivity and their applications are also under the consideration of municipality.

The municipality is also launching an electronic medical record (EMR) system and e-tutor programme as part of the project.

EMR is a centralized online medical record of each resident of the municipality that can be accessible from anywhere. Urban affairs minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali will inaugurate the EMR system, at the same function.

Through its free Wi-Fi cover, the municipality is also planning to provide free education services including video lessons and unlimited practice questions to students. The round the clock e-tutor service would be launched by E Ahammed MP at the function.

Rs 1.45 crore is the total cost of the Wi-Fi project and it was implemented with the financial support of state IT department and technical support of Railtel Corporation of India.

