Tata-Tomizone Wi-Fi hotspots in India soon

Tata Communications Internet Services Limited, Tomizone tie up to offer Wi-Fi hotspots in India

Tata Communications Internet Services Limited (TCISL) and Tomizone, based in Auckland, New Zealand, have signed a partnership agreement by which TCISL will use Tomizone’s proprietary software to bring in a Wi-Fi revolution in India.

Tomizone, which runs a network of 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and zones in Australasia, is a major provider of Wi-Fi solutions across Australia, New Zealand, India and China.

In a statement, Tata Communications Internet Services Limited said there is a need for higher penetration of Wi-Fi hotspots in India where users of laptop computers and Wi-Fi enabled device can connect to the internet.

At present, there are only less than 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in India – with Tata Indicom Wi-Fi having a share of over 50%.

As a result of the TCISL-Tomizone partnership, the number of Wi-Fi hotspots in India can grow many times in a shorter time, Prateek Pashine, chief operating officer of TCISL, said in the statement. In addition, the partnership lets retail consumers take part in this new business opportunity, Prateek Pashine added.

Girish Hiremath, country head of Tomizone India, in a press release, described the partnership with TCISL as “heralding a smart cooperation model” by which both TCISL and Tomizone can deploy their unique strengths to speed up the availability of easy-to-use and affordable Wi-Fi coverage in India.

According to Tata Communications Internet Services Limited, the partnership with Tomizone will let the broadband customers of Tata Indicom set up Wi-Fi hotspots at their premises instantly.

Apart from one’s personal usage, a customer can also make use of his unused bandwidth by offering it to others, like, for example, neighbours. In return, the customer will get credit (of internet surfing time) on his account – thus subsidising the cost of his broadband connection, TCISL explained in the statement.

At present, Tata Communications Internet Services Limited has 500 Wi-Fi hotspots – at educational institutions, airports, railway stations, hospitals, hotels, restaurant chains, coffee shops, and shopping malls.

TCISL also offers roaming access to users of broadband or dial-up internet in 300 cities and towns in India.

By partnering with Tomizone, TCISL said it will target owners of small internet cafes, service apartments, and SOHOs (small office-home office) to increase its Wi-Fi coverage.

India is among the countries with the lowest penetration of broadband in the world – at about 0.6%, with 6.62 million subscribers as on June 2009.