Bengal CM inaugurates state's first free Wi-Fi zone

Kolkata, Feb 5 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday inaugurated the state's first free Wi-Fi zone in Kolkata, which is soon poised to become India's first Wi-Fi city.

"Communication is a major (requisite) now-a-days and it has been our goal to make Bengal a knowledge hub," Banerjee told mediapersons here during the inauguration of the Wi-Fi Zone in the city's Park Street area.

High speed 4G Wi-Fi services will be available in Park Street along with the adjoining areas from this evening.

"In next two months Kolkata and Salt Lake will be Wi-Fi enabled and we have laid extensive plans for covering 2,000 km in the city with WiFi. It will be soon extended to Barasat, Howrah and Rajarhata," she said.

The deadline for completion of the Wi-Fi facility in the city coincides with the Bengali New Year.

"It will be one of the best global WiFi zone and knowledge hub. By April last week, Kolkata and adjacent areas will be fully covered," the chief minister said.

Banerjee said she has asked district magistrates to take up the possibility of offering Wi-Fi across the rural areas. "I have asked the districts to take up the matter wherever we have cable," said Banerjee.

The day of the inauguration of Wi-Fi coincides with Kolkata Municipal Corporation mayor opening an account in the social networking site Twitter.

The party has also created a hashtag #WiFiKolkata on Twitter to promote the initiative.