Last updated: Mar 23, 2024

Free wifi hotspots across Delhi was one of AAP's main election promise for Delhi Elections 2005^[1]

Delhi is the first city in the world with free Wi-Fi across the city ^[2]
-- 11,000+ hotspots installed across the city^[1:1]
-- Total ~21 lakh users (Avg ~7 lakh daily users with 99% satisfaction)^[3]

FUTURE Plans

For further expansion, expected to be relaunched in mid-2024^[1:2]
-- Scheme got halted in December 2022
-- 50% extra hotspots with at least 250mbps speed

¶ Entire City Covered^[1:3]

• 100 in each of the 70 assemblies at parks, markets and important government buildings
• 4,000 at bus queue shelters
• Total 11,034 hotspots access points installed across the city

¶ Usage Details

21 lakh mobile phone users take benefit of this facility^[1:4]

~7 lakh daily users with 99% satisfaction level^[3:1]

• User identified through his mobile number
• Everyone got 15GB free data every month at a speed of 200mb/second within 50m of each hotspot device^[1:5]
• Each Hotspot device could concurrently handle 150-200 users^[1:6]

¶ Future plans

• Scheme was halted in December 2022 as Delhi government is reworking its scheme^[4]
• "The scheme is being redesigned. There is no fund crunch," asserted PWD minister Atishi^[4:1]
• ~50% increase in hotspot devices with at least 30 assembly constituencies, which are densely populated, will get more hotspot points^[1:7]
• Download speed of the free internet facility from 200mbps to at least 250mbps to give a better experience to people^[1:8]

REFERENCES:

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1. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-government-to-relaunch-better-free-wi-fi-facility-next-fiscal/articleshow/98054569.cms ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

2. https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/delhi-govt-approves-continuation-of-free-wi-fi-scheme-in-the-city-121080301539_1.html ↩︎

3. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/at-11000-free-wifi-hotspots-across-delhi-no-network-for-over-a-year-9221646/ ↩︎ ↩︎

4. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/no-funds-crunch-govt-redesigning-scheme-to-resume-free-wifi-atishi/articleshow/104078806.cms ↩︎ ↩︎