Google announced its new public Wi-Fi initiative Google Station. The program aims to provide fast and secure Wi-Fi connections at public spots throughout the world. The tech giant has already carried out similar work in India, where it collaborated with Indian Railways and RailTel to offer Wi-Fi to the users at train stations.
Google Station is a suite of tools designed to make public Wi-Fi easily accessible. The company has not provided much details about the internal working of the system. However, it is expected to work with ISPs and hardware makers. The company is said to be on lookout for partners such as shopping malls and cafes. Google will provide services to these partners to help them monetize the connections.
Caesar Sengupta, vice president of Google's next billion users division, said that the initiative is in the beginning phase and the company is looking for partners to extend the reach. Google has undertaken a similar initiative in the United States as well where it worked to convert payphones in New York City into internet kiosks.
The tech giant has been open about its ambition to capture upcoming markets. Google held its "Google For India" event in Delhi where it introduced a slew of services, aimed at developing markets. The company already provides Wi-Fi in over 50 railway stations in India. Now, it aims to extend this service outside of India as well.