RailTel launches prepaid Wi-Fi service at 4,000 railway stations

RailTel on Thursday formally launched its paid Wi-Fi service plans which will enable users to access high-speed internet at 4,000 railway stations across the country.

RailTel already provides free Wi-Fi service at more than 5,950 stations in the country, and the facility can be availed by anyone with a smartphone and an active connection after an OTP-based verification.

With the launch of these prepaid plans, a passenger can now use up to 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi per day at 1 Mbps speed. But for higher speed of up to 34 Mbps, an user will need to choose a plan at a nominal fee.

The plans include Rs 10 for 5 GB data in a day; Rs 15 for 10 GB data in a day; Rs 20 for 10 GB data, valid for five days; Rs 30 for 20 GB data, valid for five days; Rs 40 for 20 GB data, valid for 10 days; Rs 50 for 30 GB data, valid for 10 days, and Rs 70 for 60 GB data, valid for 30 days.

"We intend to launch the prepaid plans for all the stations with our RailWire Wi-Fi this financial year," said RailTel CMD Puneet Chawla in a statement.

Chawla said that before Covid-19, more than three crore people were using the service monthly. Once the situation normalises and footfall at stations becomes regular, a revenue of Rs 10-15 crore annually is expected from the paid Wi-Fi service, he added.