Project Nilgiri - Google's free Wi-Fi connection for India and how it works

Google is rolling out a comprehensive public Wi-Fi connection in India to promote its services.

Hello my fellow tech enthusiasts, been a while... actually just a few days. Got caught up with the IFA 2016. Away from that, everyone is now investing in Data. We all know how Whatsapp makes money, if you don't know just ask me and I'll tell you how. Hit the comments section below or my email jtechpreneur@gmail.com or my Twitter handle @JTechpreneur direct message. Back to our topic, on September 12 2015, the Indian Railways announced its partnership with the tech giant Google to provide free Wi-Fi services to 400 railway stations across the country. Thus the rise of "Project Nilgiri". Let us know why Google is doing this.

Statistics say India is the fastest growing economy among the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations with a prediction of growth figure close to 7.8 % in 2016. And also according to Softbank’s CEO Masayoshi Son, India may become the largest economy in the world in the coming 25-30 years. That said, let us also look at India's population which is said to be equivalent to 17.84% of the total world population ranking India as number 2 in the list of countries by population. Aren't this people too many? How do they move around? By rail.

India has the fourth largest railway network in the world transporting 8.397 billion passengers and over 106 million tonnes of freight annually, as of 2014. The rail network traverses the length and breadth of the country, covering in 2011 a total length of 64,460 km (40,050 mi). The railway operations cover 28 states and 3 union territories and also provides limited service to Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. More than 10 million people use the railway daily and a vast majority of people in India use Smartphones, "Tyranny of numbers". And that's not all let me remind you, Google Fiber was launched in 2010 which provides Project Nilgiri a speed of up to 1 Gigabits per second, Google Fiber was only available in the U.S. Then in 2014, Google launched Android One in the country, a handset with a minimum set of features that was sold for about $100 (£77, Ksh.8,900). Google envisioned project Nilgiri a long time ago and started working on it.

"this project would rank as the largest public Wi-Fi project in India, and among the largest in the world, by number of potential users".

Written on the official Google blog by Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai.

In January 2016, Mumbai central station had become the first railway station in India to have free Wi-Fi facility and now, the service has been extended to 10 more railway stations which are Pune, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Raipur, Ranchi, Vijayawada, Kachiguda (Hyderabad), Ernakulam Junction (Kochi),and Vishakhapatnam. Using satellite communication technology, the Indian Railways is also providing Wi-Fi connectivity in moving trains for selected routes.

Ceasar Sengupta, vice-president of Google's Next Billion Users division, which is targeting emerging markets, said:

"Every second, three Indians come online. And we have to ensure that the experience is wonderful for them. But the next billion is very different from the first billion, and by building products for these users we are preparing for how the world will use tech in the coming years."

India represents huge opportunities for the big tech firms - some 350 million Indians are online currently, and this is expected to grow to more than 600 million in the next three years. A vast amount of Google’s revenue comprises of online advertisements is directly proportional to the amount of traffic. Thus, the more number of new users the better for Google, as using the Wi-Fi most number of users prefer watching the videos on YouTube and searching the internet using Google search, which will indirectly lead to Google’s traffic increase. Apart from that there is also the data aspect, just imagine the amount of data Google will be able to get fro m all its platforms, how many people will get to see an advert by Google or by any other ad company? During this year's Google IO16, Google launched a number of other devices and platforms increasing it's value in the market.

How Project Nilgiri free Wi-Fi works

A special One Time Password has been generated for this purpose and users will be able to access free internet by using it.
The connection of the users will still be active after 30 minutes of internet usage. However, after 30 minutes, the speed will drop and become slow.