Mumbai’s WIFi Future?

The Mumbaikars take on BMC’s 50-Crore plan of setting up the Citywide WiFi network for Mumbai.

Few months back, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has brought forward a citywide WiFi plan for Mumbai. According to BMC, the plan, if implemented, would allow anyone to use WiFi on their compatible laptops or mobile phones. This initiative by the BMC is a public-private partnership of sorts, in which the BMC plans to cover the entire city with WiFi coverage, albeit not free. Let’s find out the Mumbaikars take on this plan…

“Once the city is WiFi enabled, it will make possible for any user who has a WiFi enabled device to surf the web from any location in the city. Once he is connected, he will be able to move around in the city at his own will, without worrying about any connectivity hasles. - Sampada, a MSc. IT student

“Such a network would make it easy for the citizens to communicate with each other and the civic body, thus making communications easier and processing time shorter. Cyber experts, on the other hand, see this move from a different perspective. According to them, this would place Mumbai among the top technologically advanced cities in the world.
- Mandar, system administrative

“If the plan does indeed go through, it would be interesting to see how it would be implemented. According to me, it would really help if there was a single system of managing the service. Something on the lines of Mobile Recharge coupons should be implemented, wherein each user will have his own account and he is charged as per usage. We will also need to wait and see what speeds would be implemented along with the service.
- Bijosh, a young IT professional

“Installing a WiFi network is well and good. But, the misuse by some antisocial elements should also has to be taken into consideration and necessary steps which will secure the network from misuse should be made the top priority by the BMC.
- Alliston, a technology enthusiast and a student

BMC will maintain that this will be cheaper than other such services. In conclusion, the plan will certainly benefit the Mumbaikars. But before implementing it, the BMC should consider the issues like security, efficiency & servicing.