Bharti Airtel launches Wi-Fi service in Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata

• Kolkata’s landmark destination to have Wi-Fi service enabled by Bharti Airtel
• This deployment is a part of Airtel’s ongoing network transformation program – Project Leap

Kolkata, March 22, 2016: Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”), India’s no. 1 operator and the third largest mobile services provider globally with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, today announced the pilot launch of Wi-Fi service in Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata. With this, Airtel has become the preferred partner to provide the visitors and tourists both national and international at Victoria Memorial Hall with an opportunity to connect and get on to the digital superhighway to enjoy uninterrupted HD video streaming, superfast uploading and downloading of movies, music and images on the move.

Starting today (March 22), visitors at Victoria Memorial Hall will be able to experience Airtel’s Wi-Fi service by connecting from five designated Hotspot zones, which are an open platform for users across mobile operators having Wi-Fi compatible devices.

Visitors will be able to enjoy two free browsing sessions of 30 minutes each, per day, against each individual mobile number. Users wanting to avail the free Wi-Fi service, will first have to enable the Wi-Fi from their device settings, then connect to the Wi-Fi network under “AirtelWiFiZone”, there would be an automatic redirection to a landing page and users will now need to validate the connection by inputting his / her mobile phone number. On completion the user would receive an authentication SMS containing the password. An URL option for direct log in will also be sent to the user.

Announcing the launch, Mr. Ravindra Singh Negi, CEO – West Bengal & Odisha, Bharti Airtel said, “We constantly innovate to find newer ways to enrich the lives of mobile users in the country. With the launch of Wi-Fi service at Victoria Memorial Hall, we aim to enable more & more users to experience superior and superfast mobile internet speeds by seamlessly latching on to our Wi-Fi hotspots and enjoy many more internet capabilities on their mobile devices, on the move. We recently launched “Project Leap”, our national network transformation drive, and look forward to delivering a compelling network experience for our customers in Kolkata now and in years to come”.

Also commenting on the launch Dr. Jayanta Sengupta, Secretary & Curator – Victoria Memorial Hall said, “We are delighted to launch this pilot project in association with Airtel, which will form an important element in our commitment to the Government’s ‘Digital India’ initiative. The Victoria Memorial Hall is the most-visited museum in India, and it is constantly trying to improve its visitor facilities, to make it even more attractive to people who throng it in their thousands every day. Free Wi-Fi access is a part of this broader effort, which includes the enhancement of the museum’s digital presence. This pilot project is some sort of a trial run, and hopefully it will become a more permanent feature of Victoria’s appeal.”

Earlier in November 2015, Airtel launched Project Leap, under which the Company plans to invest Rs 60,000 crores over the next three years to meet the growing demand of voice and high speed data services in India and deliver the best network experience to its customers.

About Bharti Airtel:
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 357 million customers across its operations at the end of March 2016. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com