Reliance Jio now plans to provide free Wi-Fi to college students across the country. With this plan, almost three crore college students will get the access to the free internet by the telecom company.
According to a report published in Hindustan Times, the company has submitted a proposal in this regard to the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, India.
Earlier, last week Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Jio had once again taken the telecom sector by storm by announcing its 4G-enabled feature phone. Now the company wants to connect close to 38,000 colleges India by offering free Wi-Fi connectivity.
Some top universities that will get benefitted are Delhi University, Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Milia Islamia University and Central University, Himachal Pradesh etc.
As per the report, a proposal was received by the ministry last month, in which the company expressed a desire to connect almost all the technical and non-technical colleges under the HRD ministry across India by deploying free Wi-Fi connectivity.
“Through this free access to Wi-Fi, all students will be able to get the internet connection and use educational resources such as online courses available on SWAYAM platform through the National Knowledge Network. The company plans to create hotspots for this,”, a source in the government said.
This is the first time the government has received any such proposal from a telecom service provider. So, it is being examined by the ministry and as per the officials, the proposal will have to go through a transparent tender process. The government also wants to ensure that other providers also get a fair chance in this bid.
“Though they (Reliance) are not charging us any money for this project, we can’t approve it without giving a fair chance to others. A tender will be floated so that it is a fair and transparent process,” the source further told HT.
It is to be noted that even the HRD ministry has also proposed to provide free Wi-Fi to 38 central universities. The project is also likely to take off by August 31 this year.
However, Reliance Jio has again initiated a revolutionary step in Indian telecom market. After the free feature phone launch in a bid to woo around 50 crores low-income users, the company plans to lure the youth of India now.
