Wi-fi connectivity in 400 railway stations will begin next year.
By Sreekanth A Nair
Sundar Pichai, the Indian-origin CEO of Google, said that the company will build a new campus in Hyderabad to enhance capabilities, on Wednesday.
“Google is looking at hiring people for Bangalore and Hyderabad… We will also build a huge new campus in Hyderabad to build capabilities,” Pichai said at a Google for India event in New Delhi.
Pichai also announced that Google will provide wi-fi connectivity in 100 railway stations across India in 2016.
“100 stations will have wi-fi by December 2016. Mumbai Central (station) to go live by January. This is in partnership with RailTel,” he said.
Google has announced the project to provide wi-fi connectivity in 400 railway stations across the country after Pichai met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when Modi visited Silicon Valley earlier.
To implement the project, Google has joined hands with RailTel Corporation of India, the telecommunication arm of the Indian Railways.
India is one of the largest markets of Google with immense growth potential. The number of Android users in India will overtake the US in 2016. So the technology giant is focusing on making internet available to everyone in India.
“Our focus on bringing internet access to everyone, making sure our products are working for them in a meaningful way and then ensure our platform allows them to add their voice to the internet,” Pichai said.
Pichai also said that Google will develop products for the next billion people in India.
Google is also keen on women empowerment in India for which they are expanding bicycle for women program nationally to help them get online.
“From a pilot, we will now expand the program to cover three lakh villages in three years,” he said.
The company has already started the mission to reach out to each and every village in India. As a first step, 1000 women in different villages are being trained to use the internet. Within three years, Google is aiming to reach out to three lakh villages in the country.
Another announcement made by Google CEO is addition of more local languages for Android One Operating system and YouTube. Also, efforts are going on to upgrade Indian maps.
Pichai is on his first visit to India after taking charge as the CEO of Google. During the two-day visit, he will meet Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is also expected to interact with the students of a college in Delhi University.