According to the project parameters, providing free access to the Internet across Bengaluru would cost Rs 150-200 croreThe 800 sq km of Bruhat Bengaluru will have Wi-Fi access as the Congress government in Karnataka follows the youth-centric carrot the AAP doled out in Delhi, to capture the national capital.Modelled on AAP's promise of free wi-fi in public spaces across Delhi, AICC members taking care of Brand Bengaluru have moved a similar project and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has signed it. The government wants to rope in former Infosys honcho Nandan Nilekani for the project.On Saturday, when Siddaramaiah was in Delhi to attend the Congress rally, legal advisor to Karnataka and AICC spokesperson Brijesh Kalappa was hammering out the details of connecting the city with local area wireless internet technology, aka Wi-Fi.Kalappa is a member of the group working on projecting Bengaluru internationally and planning projects accordingly.According to the project parameters, providing free Internet access across the city would cost Rs 150-200 crore. And since a pilot has already been carried out successfully – indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi connectivity – it is high time that the entire city is wired.And why not? Way back in 2003, when a small island nation, Niue in the South Pacific, with a land area of 260 sq km, became the first Wi-Fi nabled nation, why not India’s IT hub? The Congress’s brand group which did research on the key areas that drove AAP to power, found that even a taxi driver in Delhi knew about Wi-Fi and was impressed with the idea of free Internet access.‘If it can be done in Delhi, why not in Bengaluru? I met the chief minister and explained the project and he was excited. He immediately said yes and proposed Nandan Nilakani’s name to spearhead it. Since Bengaluru hosts a lot of IT companies, government can seek some help from them,’’ Brijesh Kalappa told Bangalore Mirror.About a year ago, as a pilot, the IT department in association with Karnataka Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Group 2020 led by T V Mohandas Pai kicked off Namma Wi-Fi (802.11N) on MG Road and Brigade Road. Pai’s group had roped in DvoiS Broadband Private Limited for the pilot.According to Dvois managing director Ramesh Sathya, the pilot cost Rs seven lakh per km on an average including indoor and outdoor hotspots and the area covered was 2.1 km.``In all, 23 access points were provided for Wi-Fi on MG and Brigade road stretches. Following its success, 14 other locations in the city including major bus stations of Shantinagar, Koramangala, Yeshwanthpura, Indiranagar etc were wi-fid. With a speed of 512 kbps per user, the connectivity enables citizens to use smart-phones, tablets, net-books, laptops and other mobile devices to connect to internet seamlessly,’’ explained Sathya.The service designed the network in such a way that a user has to register into the portal and would get a one-time authentication password sent to his or her mobile number. Subsequently, whenever the user is in a wi-fi zone, he/she can automatically connect to the ION service and access internet and usage will be limited to three hours a day or up to 50 MB data.What would it mean to have Bengaluru wired? According to industry sources, only public areas with large volume of footfall will have wi-fi hotpots. For instance, one of the key indicators from the pilot was that compared to Brigade Road, internet traffic is high on the stretch between Trinity and Brigade road. ``You cannot have hotpots on outer ring road or Sarjapur road which have high speed commuter density. Wi-fi zones have to be created where a large number of people congregate and use the internet and there is no point in having hotspots in places where people don’t walk.”