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RailTel initiates a Wi-Fi monetization project covering more than 6108+ Railway Station across India where Public Wi-Fi network has already been made available by RailTel.
For this project, RailTel has signed a 5-year agreement with a consortium led by M/S 3i InfoTech Ltd., a Global Information Technology Company based at Mumbai.
It will help generate revenue by monetizing Wi-Fi footfalls through targeted Advertisements and extending multimedia infotainment services for Railway passengers.
With this, Public Wi-Fi at Railway Stations is set to transform digital experience of railway passengers.
In addition, 3i Infotech will be launching a Mobile “Super App” to make logins easier, offer many infotainment subscriptions & train related information, increase traction with consumers many-fold and multiply user base which will provide right platform to digital advertisers & marketers for mass-market, regional and hyper-local advertisements.
This Public- Private Partnership on Wi-Fi network monetization will truly transform the railway passengers’ digital journey, providing customers a differentiated experience:
Shri Sanjai Kumar, CMD, RailTel.
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RailTel, a Mini Ratna PSU under Ministry of Railways has initiated a Wi-Fi monetization project covering more than 6108+ Railway Station across India where free public Wi-Fi network has already been made available by RailTel. For this Project, Railtel has signed a 5-year agreement with a consortium led by M/S 3i InfoTech Ltd., a Global Information Technology Company based at Mumbai. The other members of the consortium are Forensics Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies Private Limited (FISST) and Yellow Inc.
Under the contract, the revenue will be generated by monetizing Wi-Fi footfalls in one of the world’s largest integrated public Wi-Fi networks through targeted Advertisements and extending multimedia infotainment services for Railway passengers. This is India’s first multi-year commercial agreement to monetize captive customers of Public Wi-Fi network through collaborative efforts. With this, public Wi-Fi at Railway Stations is set to transform digital experience of railway passengers.
As per the contract, 3i Infotech lead consortium will pay Rs. 14 Cr per year or 40% of revenue earned (whichever is higher) to RailTel. Revenue will be largely led by advertising & supported by content/ services-based revenue and the consolidated revenue potential from the project is expected to be upwards of Rs 250 Crore over 5-year period: as per 3i Infotech’s estimate.
RailTel’s Public Wi-Fi network is now available at 6108 Railway Stations across India and records more than 1.1 million unique users per day. With this collaborative deal, Station Wi-Fi is set to evolve digital experience to Wi-Fi users.
In addition, 3i Infotech will be launching a Mobile “Super App” to ease the logins, offer many infotainment subscriptions, increase traction with consumers many-fold and multiply user base which will provide right platform to digital advertisers & marketers for mass-market, regional and hyper-local advertisements. Super App aims to become one of the largest Apps in terms of users, usage and time spent, in India. Multi fold increase in uses and usage has potential to attract tour planners & taxi aggregators to offer to Rly Passengers, going forward.
The rich infotainment services of Super App are targeted to engage users beyond the Rly Stations through customised content packs, e-ticketing, railway related information and other value-added services. Super App will also have potential to bring Railway Passengers and Railway operational units closer for day-to-day grievance management platform with measurable parameters apart from value added digital services like mapping of porters, food suppliers/aggregators, emergency medical services etc.
Under this contract, 3i InfoTech led consortium will also provide edge computing & edge analytics to provide greater flexibility and opportunity to fine tune the contents and advertisements.
Talking about this, Shri Sanjai Kumar, Chairman & Managing Director, RailTel said, “This Public-Private Partnership on Wi-Fi network monetization will truly transform the railway passengers’ experience, providing customers a differentiated digital experience. Moreover, it will provide an opportunity for advertisers to tap into RailTel’s widespread integrated public Wi-Fi network at Rly stations with the largest footfall of Wi-Fi users in the country to deliver customized services & contents. This move will also aid to the cause of Govt. of India’s Digital India mission. It will also help RailTel to enhance its revenue stream.”
Speaking about this agreement, Thompson P. Gnanam, Managing Director & Global CEO, 3i Infotech said, “It is going to be an important partnership with RailTel. This is a landmark moment for us and Railway passengers, with the sheer scale of digital enablement this project is aimed at. This project is a strategic fit towards expanding our Edge Computing capabilities. Edge Application is the Super App which will be developed by us for the Wi-Fi Monetization Project. We hope to get good patronage from advertisers and marketers.”
About RailTel:
RailTel, a “Mini Ratna (Category-I)” Central Public Sector Enterprise under Ministry of Railways, is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure & ICT Solutions & Services providers in the country, owning a Pan-India optic fiber network covering several towns & cities and rural areas of the country. Along with a strong a reliable network of 61000+ RKM of Optic fibre, RailTel has two MeitY empaneled tier III data centers as well. With its Pan India high-capacity network, RailTel is working towards creating a knowledge society at various fronts and has been selected for implementation of various mission-mode projects for the Government of India in the telecom field. RailTel offers a bundle of services like, MPLS VPN, Telepresence, leased line, Tower Co-location, Data center services etc. RailTel is also working with the Indian Railways to transform railway stations into digital hub by providing public Wi-Fi at railway stations across the country and 6100+ stations are live with RailTel’s RailWire Wi-Fi.
About 3i Infotech
Headquartered in Mumbai, India, since inception in 1993, 3i Infotech has been committed to driving business value across multiple industry verticals. 3i Infotech, today, has emerged as a leading name in propelling the current wave of digital transformation initiatives, with deep domain expertise across BFSI, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Education, Telecom, Media & Entertainment, Retail and Government sectors.
With a digital and cloud-first approach, and a range of IT services and solutions
encompassing 5G in Edge Computing, Cognitive AI/ML, Data Science and Analytics and Blockchain, 3i Infotech has successfully transformed business operations of 1,200+ customers across 50 countries.
