Free Wi-Fi at Taj Mahal now!

NEW DELHI: IT and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today inaugurated Wi-Fi hotspot zone at the historical monument of Taj Mahal in Agra.

The facility has been created by BSNL with the optical fibre backbone using GPON (Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks) technology which can provide backhaul broadband bandwidth up to 100 Mbps through BSNL's MPLS network. BSNL would be providing free Wi-Fi services for first 30 minutes.

After free usage limit of 30 minutes is exhausted, a customer can continue the service on paid basis for which subscription plans are available in the denomination of Rs 20, Rs 30, Rs 50 and Rs 70 for validity of 30 min, 60 min, 120 min and one day, respectively.

BSNL has also planned to expand the coverage of the Wi-Fi facility to other tourist and religious locations like Khajuraho, Jagannath puri etc by March 2016.

Prasad informed that BSNL has plans to invest more than 1,200 crores in UP(W) Circle during 2015-16. Out of this about Rs 200 crores will be invested in upgrading and expanding mobile network.

A total of 795 number of new 2G BTSs (Base Transceiver Station) sites are being commissioned in all Secondary Switching Areas (SSAs) of UP(W) Circle to increase the coverage of BSNL mobile services.

The company is expanding its 3G network in all SSAs by installing a total of 596 new 3G BTSs. This expansion will help in providing improved 3G services to existing BSNL subscribers as well as in 152 new cities/towns.

The minister further added that BSNL is replacing 30 years old switching technology with latest Next Generation Network (NGN) technology.

In initial phase, more than 50,000 such telephone lines are allotted to UP(W) Circle covering Meerut, Ghaziabad and Noida areas.

Ram Shankar Katheria, Agra, Lok Sabha Member and Minister of State for HRD, Anupam Shrivastava, CMD, BSNL, N K Gupta, Director, BSNL, and other senior officers of BSNL were also present during the occasion.