Hyderabad to get 4G WiFi by December

HYDERABAD: The 4G WiFi services will be available in western Hyderabad by September and for the entire city by December end. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed the officials to make arrangements for the same.

Speaking at a review meeting with officials on 'Hyderabad 4G WiFi City' at the Secretariat, KCR directed them to develop digital broadband infrastructure in Hyderabad. IT minister KT Rama Rao and representatives of Reliance, which will provide the services, were present in the meeting.

Reliance state CEO KS Venugopal and coordinator PVL Madhava Rao explained to KCR the progress on the works of WiFi services in Hyderabad and other places in Telangana.

As part of the first phase, 4G services will be made available in six corporations, 37 municipalities across the state apart from Hyderabad. In the second phase, all other cities, towns and 220 mandal headquarters will be provided with the services. The entire state would be made WiFi enabled by the third phase.

The chief minsiter felt that 4G services would support the government's efforts to improve the brand image of Hyderabad internationally. The representatives of Reliance assured the chief minister of meeting the deadlines. They said around `4,100 crore were being spent for providing WiFi services in Telangana.

Reliance is laying 1,700 km long OFC lines in Hyderabad as part of the project. Lines have been laid for 500 km so far.

Phase-wise WiFi

■ 37 municipalities, 6 corporations to get 4G in phase I

■ Phase II to cover other cities, towns and 220 mandal HQs

■ Entire state to have WiFi by end of phase III

What is 4G?

4G stands for '4th generation' mobile data protocol. But as a growing band of 4G users will tell you, it's all about the speed. To join the 4G revolution, you need to have a smartphone that is configured to work with a 4G network and a mobile plan.

4G services should make it much quicker to surf the web on your mobile, tablets and laptops - speeds will be nearer to what you currently experience with home broadband.

Because of this, 4G is ideally suited for services which demand more capacity like video streaming, mapping and social networking sites. For the typical user, download speeds of initial 4G networks could be around 5-7 times those for existing 3G networks.

This means a music album taking 20 minutes to download on a 3G phone and just over 3 minutes on 4G. This is based on existing 3G speeds being 1Mbit/s on average and 4G speed being 6Mbit/s (average of 5 and 7 times faster).

3G speeds laid the groundwork for our increasingly mobile lifestyle, but 4G speeds are truly taking 'mobile' to the next level. 2G technology was suitable for making calls and sending text messages while 3G makes it possible to access the internet more effectively through your mobile phone.