RailTel

RailTel Corporation of India Ltd.
Company type	Public
Traded as	BSE: 543265; NSE: RAILTEL;
ISIN	INE0DD101019
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	September 2000; 24 years ago
Headquarters	Plate A, 6th Floor, Office block 2,East Kidwai Nagar, New Delhi, India
Area served	India
Key people	Sanjai Kumar, chairman and managing director
Services	Broadband; Internet service; Technology;
Revenue	₹1,628 crore (US$200 million) (FY 2021-2022)
Net income	₹209 crore (US$25 million) (FY 2021-2022)
Total equity	₹1,516 crore (US$180 million) (FY 2021-2022)
Owner	Government of India (72.84%)
Number of employees	730 (2022)
Subsidiaries	RailTel Enterprises Limited
Website	www.railtel.in

RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. is an Indian Navaratna Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) which provides broadband and VPN services. RailTel was formed in September 2000 with the objective of creating a nationwide broadband, telecom and multimedia network, and to modernise train control operation and safety system of Indian Railways. RailTel's network passes through around 5,000 stations across the country, covering all major commercial centres.^[4] Railtel became the 22nd company to achieve Navratna status on August 30, 2024.^[5]

History

The Indian Railways (IR) was initially solely dependent on the Department of Telecom (now BSNL) for their control and administrative communication circuits. To increase circuit efficiency, the Railways began building up its own communication systems from early 1970s based on overhead telephone lines, quad cables and microwave signalling. In 1983, the Railway Reforms Committee decided to introduce optical fibre cable (OFC) based communications in IR to provide safety, reliability, availability and serviceability through use of a dedicated network. The decision was also taken to create a network independent of the DoT and replace the existing microwave telecom systems (60% of which had reached end of life) with OFC.

Indian Railways commissioned the first OFC on the Churchgate–Virar line in Mumbai in 1988 for train operation and control purpose, which consisted of 60 km of network across 28 stations. The network was expanded in Central India with the commissioning of 900 km of OFC network in 1991–92 across Durg–Nagpur, Nagpur–Itarsi and Itarsi–Bhusaval sections of the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line, and in Eastern India with the commissioning of 60 km of OFC network in Tatanagar–Chakradhrapur section of the same line.

The second National Telecom Policy in 1999 opened the National Long-Distance segment under favourable licensing conditions with revenue sharing to assist mobile network operators to spread their networks across India. In 2000, the Government announced the formation of a telecom corporation to build a nationwide broadband multimedia telecommunication network. RailTel was established on 26 September 2000 as a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), wholly owned by the Indian Railways.^[6]

Projects

WiFi and WiMax

RailTel, formerly in collaboration with Google, provides free WiFi Internet access at selected railway stations across India. Google chose railway stations as the location to provide free WiFi because stations have access to a reliable power supply and fibre provided by RailTel, and because the passengers at a station come from all demographics of India.^[7]

The free WiFi service was launched at Mumbai Central railway station in January 2016.^[8] In April 2016, the service was expanded to nine more railway stations.^[9] In June 2016, Google announced that free WiFi was available at 19 stations in India and was being used by over 1.5 million people.^[10]

In September 2016, Google announced a public WiFi initiative called Google Station. The company planned to expand free WiFi coverage under the initiative to locations such as cafes and malls across India, and later expand worldwide.^[11]

In June 2018, Google announced that its Free WiFi project was now running at 400 Indian railway stations. As a result, there were more than 8 million people accessing the internet each month via the project.^[12]

The partnership between Google and Railwire ended in May 2020. Now Railwire alone provides free WiFi for 30mins at low speed and further paid plans at 34 Mbps to more than 5000 railway stations in India.^[13]

RailWire

Based on its nationwide fibre network, RailTel offers RailWire, a joint venture with managed service providers to provide internet, voice, video and multimedia access on a single FTTH connection at a customer's home or office.^[14]

Awards

RailTel received the 12th National Awards for Excellence in Cost Management 2014.^[15]

References

^ "Evolution of Railtel". www.railtelindia.com. Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
^ "Sanjai Kumar appointed as new Chairman & MD of Railtel".
^ "Railtel Corp gains on bagging order worth Rs 253 cr". Business Standard India. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "RailTel Celebrates its Annual Day". Press Information Bureau, Indian government. 18 October 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
^ "Railtel secures Navratna Status from GoI". Moneycontrol. 2 September 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
^ Rural Broadband Connectivity Provider in India | RailTel
^ "Google teams up with RailTel to give free Wifi to all railway stations in India". India Live Today. 30 July 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
^ Mumbai Central gets Google's Wi-Fi network – The Hindu
^ "Google, RailTel expand free WiFi reach, cover 9 more stations". Business Standard. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
^ "1.5 million Indians enjoy high Speed Wi-Fi across 19 Railway Stations". Official Google India Blog. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
^ Byford, Sam (27 September 2016). "Google Station is a new platform that aims to make public Wi-Fi better". The Verge. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
^ "Free WiFi Service: Google's free WiFi now available at 400 Indian Railways stations". The Economic Times.
^ "Google ends its free WiFi service at Indian railway stations - The Hindu". The Hindu. 21 February 2020.
^ "RailTel to tie up with MSOs to expand internet base in rural T.N." The Hindu. Chennai, India. 25 November 2013.
^ "Railway PSU – "RailTel" Bags 12th National Awards for Excellence in Cost Management 2014". Press Information Bureau of India. Retrieved 19 July 2015.

[1] "Evolution of Railtel". www.railtelindia.com. Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2016.

[2] "Sanjai Kumar appointed as new Chairman & MD of Railtel".

[3] "Railtel Corp gains on bagging order worth Rs 253 cr". Business Standard India. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.

[4] "RailTel Celebrates its Annual Day". Press Information Bureau, Indian government. 18 October 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2014.

[5] "Railtel secures Navratna Status from GoI". Moneycontrol. 2 September 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2024.

[6] Rural Broadband Connectivity Provider in India | RailTel

[7] "Google teams up with RailTel to give free Wifi to all railway stations in India". India Live Today. 30 July 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.

[8] Mumbai Central gets Google's Wi-Fi network – The Hindu

[9] "Google, RailTel expand free WiFi reach, cover 9 more stations". Business Standard. Retrieved 17 April 2016.

[10] "1.5 million Indians enjoy high Speed Wi-Fi across 19 Railway Stations". Official Google India Blog. Retrieved 21 June 2016.

[11] Byford, Sam (27 September 2016). "Google Station is a new platform that aims to make public Wi-Fi better". The Verge. Retrieved 28 September 2016.

[12] "Free WiFi Service: Google's free WiFi now available at 400 Indian Railways stations". The Economic Times.

[13] "Google ends its free WiFi service at Indian railway stations - The Hindu". The Hindu. 21 February 2020.

[14] "RailTel to tie up with MSOs to expand internet base in rural T.N." The Hindu. Chennai, India. 25 November 2013.

[15] "Railway PSU – "RailTel" Bags 12th National Awards for Excellence in Cost Management 2014". Press Information Bureau of India. Retrieved 19 July 2015.

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