BSNL launches free public WiFi at Karnataka’s Malpe beach

After Google and Indian Railways' telecom arm RailTel joined hands to launch the first free public WiFi at Mumbai's CST station, BSNL has launched a free WiFi service at Karnataka's Malpe beach making it the first WiFi beach in the three costal districts of the state.

According to a report in The Hindu , the facility will only be available for 30 minutes per phone, with speeds matching 4G, per person per day. Also, the report said that the Department of Tourism is scheduled to pay ₹ 1 lakh quarterly to BSNL for the service.

The move can only seen as a strategy to increase the number of footfalls on the beach, which already sees sizeable numbers of foreign and domestic tourists.

"I will speak to the ministers concerned and urge them to provide round-the-clock Wi-Fi facility for tourists on the beach," Pramod Madhwaraj, MLA, was quoted as saying after the launch.

The MLA also said that the local administration and the Malpe beach commitee had made all arrangements to look at the safety of the tourists.

"Nearly ₹ 80 lakh had been spent for provision of various facilities for the tourists including maintaining cleanliness," he said.

The Malpe beach's new facilities will include a watch tower construction, appointment of personnel to maintain cleanliness, lifeguard facility, toilet and parking facilities.

An equipment to clean the beach would be purchased at a cost of ₹ 70 lakh. An amount of about ₹ 5 crore would be spent on construction and development of roads to improve connectivity to the beach, the MLA said.