At least six new Wi-Fi hotspots will be set up in various places along the Major Arterial Road (MAR) of New Town, said an official of Hidco, which builds infrastructure in the township.
According to the official, the places that have been shortlisted for setting up the hotspots include Eco Park, Eco Urban Village, community markets and zones such as the Unitech intersection which have a number of offices.
“The idea is to provide a seamless high-speed Internet connectivity across the township and these new Wi-Fi hotspots will be a step towards it,” the official said.
Users can log into the network using either smart phones or laptops.
Most of the Wi-Fi hotspots will be solar powered and fitted with a back-up system powered by conventional power. The back-up system will keep the hotspots active on days the solar panels cannot generate enough power or malfunction.
The decision to extend the Wi-Fi coverage across various areas in the township was taken keeping in mind it's relatively younger population compared to other parts of the city, as well as the fact that all action areas in New Town have a large number of offices, colleges and universities.
Small public data offices will also be set up in community markets that will be able to extend Wi-Fi services to the locality against a small fee.
Hidco chairman Debashis Sen said they wanted to create an ecosystem that will enable people to finish assignments while travelling. “It is important to ensure that since most offices are encouraging people to work from home,” said Sen.
“Wi-Fi connectivity is already available on the Major Arterial Road. This new network will bolster it.”
Many New Town residents said the Wi-Fi network available along the Major Arterial Road was "glitchy".
"I used to get good speeds earlier but of late the network has become quite bad and logging in is a task in itself," said Maitreyee Bhattacharya, a techie and a resident of New Town.
The New Town authorities are also in talks with technology experts to have a high-speed broadband Internet in Bengal Silicon Valley in order to draw in data-centre developers, ISP providers, gaming and mobile application companies as well as telecom players to set up offices there.
“Every sector needs stable and high-speed Internet connections and we want new-age companies like those developing games and mobile applications, among others, to set up their offices in New Town,” said a Hidco official.
Hidco had floated an expression of interest (EoI) for allotting land at the Bengal Silicon Valley IT hub in New Town in May.
According to the EoI, 22 plots spread over 63.35 acres are being offered in the fifth phase of land allotment at Bengal Silicon Valley. The largest plot is 21.75 acres. All plots are available on a 99-year leasehold basis.
Hidco officials said that they had received one serious enquiry for the setting up of a data centre there. Out of the total 200 acres of land, there are about 169 acres of allotable land, excluding the roads and commercial space. Some companies who have already applied for plots in the previous phases are Reliance Jio (40 acres), CTS (25 acres), TCS (20 acres), Capgemini (7 acres), Indian Statistical Institute and others.
