RailTel rolls out paid internet services

RailTel Corporation of India Limited, which provides broadband services on India's rail network, says train users will have access to high-speed paid internet at 4000 railway stations.

New Delhi:Train users in India will have access to high-speed internet at 4000 railway stations at a low cost, RailTel, which provides broadband services on the railway network said.

Travellers will get 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi per day at 1 Mbps speed and higher speeds up to 34 Mbps on paid plans, according to RailTel.

The paid plans for internet services start from Rs 10 for 5GB to Rs 15 for 10 GB per day and 5-day packs 10 GB for Rs 20 and 20 GB for Rs 30.

RailTel is also offering a monthly pack at Rs 70 for 60 GB.

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The CMD of RailTel Puneet Chawla said, "We did a detailed trial run of prepaid Wifi at 20 stations in Uttar Pradesh. Based on the response, we have launched the plan at 4,000 railway stations across India."

"Currently, people are not aware of this development. In the next 2 months, we are planning to introduce these plans for all the railway stations with RailTel Wi-Fi," Chawla said.

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Currently, RailTel has laid 59,098 kilometres of optic fibre and connected 5,957 railway stations with WiFi.

In the pre-covid times, more than 2.9 crore people used the services on a monthly basis.

RailTel is expecting a revenue of Rs 10-15 crore per annum from the expansion.

RailTel is also setting up Railway Display Network at 2,000 stations. The display screens will be installed at station buildings, entrances, platforms, waiting rooms and pedestrian bridges at railway facilities. Chawla said the plan will be rolled out over the next two years.

RailTel has also received an advance purchase order of Rs 25.46 crore per annum from BSNL for commissioning of point-to-point links.

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