VSNL joins iPass for Wi-Fi in India

MUMBAI: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) on 6 February has announced that iPass customers traveling to or working in India can now benefit from the addition of more than 350 Tata Indicom Wi-Fi hotspots into the iPass Global Broadband Roaming Network. With the integration of these services, not only do iPass customers get added coverage but the VSNL partner hotels, cafes, etc who have deployed VSNL Wi-Fi services on their premises also benefit from increased roaming usage.

Tata Indicom Wi-Fi hotspot locations include major domestic and international airports, leading premium hotels, railway stations, educational institutions, sports stadiums, hospitals, restaurant, coffee shop chains and retail stores. Key locations include Taj Hotels Group, Le Meridian, Cafe Coffee Day, Barista, Manipal University, and Wockhardt.

“Our partnership with iPass is a reflection of how committed we are to enabling customers from across the globe to experience a reliable and secure wireless service and have a world class end-user experience” said VSNL president-retail business unit Shankar Prasad. “VSNL has been leading the growth of the Wi-Fi industry in India and today has the largest Wi-Fi deployment in India with over 360 hotspots. It has drawn up major plans this year to further enhance its footprint to over 1,000 hotspots.”

Before being integrated into the iPass Global Roaming network, the Tata Indicom Wi-Fi access points went through rigorous iPass Enterprise Ready certification process. This involved testing the hotspots against reliability and quality of service standards.

VSNL, is the only Indian operator to be a member of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), a leading global consortium of Wi-Fi service providers. It is the leading player in India with over 350 hotspots and is targeting to scale it up to over 1000 during the course of the year. Operator members of WBA own and operate over 60,000 Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide and the membership in WBA enables VSNL to leverage the same.