Facebook to help BSNL set up 100 wi-fi hotspots in rural India

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★ Social media giant Facebook has come forward to facilitate state-run BSNL in setting up 100 Wi-Fi sites in rural areas of western and southern India. Facebook will spend Rs 5 crore per annum for sponsoring these 100 Wi-Fi hotspots in the country. The hotspots are being set up by BSNL-selected vendor Quad Zen.The sponsored Wi-Fi spots are being set-up in addition to 2,500 Wi-Fi spots that BSNL is setting up in partnership with Quad Zen and Trimax.

★ BSNL has also received interest from Member of Parliaments for setting up Wi-Fi hotspots in villages which they have adopted under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) to make it a model village by 2016.

★ BSNL have already set up 25 hotspots under the agreement. Facebook is only sponsoring them and not taking any revenue share. Quad Zen will set up these hotspots and handle sales. There is revenue share model between BSNL and Quad Zen.
With Facebook and MPs coming forward BSNL is being able to set up Wi-Fi hotspots in area where it is not commercially feasible to run them. We are quickly extending optical fibre connectivity to these hotspots.

★ Under commercial model, Quad Zen will set up 2,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in West and Southern part of the country and Trimax will set up 500 hotspots in North India.