Arasu Cable invites tenders for providing equipment and setting up a server
The Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TACTV)
has set the ball rolling to fulfil one of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s
electoral promises — providing free Wi-Fi in public places across the
State.
The cable corporation is targeting to roll out the service by September this year, sources said.
In
the first phase, TACTV plans to set up public Wi-Fi hotspots in 32
district headquarters bus stands, public parks and government shopping
complexes, a source in the government told.
The
agency has invited tenders to provide equipment and applications
including setting up of a server and portal and managing the data at
TACTV’s headquarters.
“We want to start the project
by September. Hopefully, the tenders will be finalised by the second
week of August; we can expand the project to other places over the next
few years. We also need to gauge how the public use the facility and
depending on it, the project can be scaled up,” according to the
official.
Time limit for free usage
The
Wi-Fi service is likely to be replicated on the models provided in
airports where users will have to log in and will get a specific time
limit for free usage.
“Once a user logs in, let’s
say, at CMBT in Koyambedu, he or she will get a specific free usage
limit. So, if you travel to another place in the State on the same day
and the system sees that you have used up your specified limit, you
might have to pay and use the Wi-Fi. We might roll out a premium Wi-Fi
service for that purpose. But again, these modalities are still being
worked out,” the source said.
Service provider
The agency already has a service provider, Vodafone, to provide the bandwidth for internet services.
The company won a tender earlier this year and is contracted to provide bandwidth for three years.
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