AGARTALA, July 7 (TIWN): With an aim to make an easy access to the internet from any location within the campus, the Tripura Government along with the other states of the North eastern region has launched Wi-Fi hotspot service on Tuesday at Birchandra State Central Library. The move has come up to mark the Digital India Week here in Tripura. Secretary of state higher education department Shantunu Das introduced the service in the library. The service would be maintained by the Information and Technology Department. To strengthen Broadband service, a new plan-hotspot had already been introduced and as many as 173 Wi-Fi hotspots would be installed in the NE to provide service to subscribers, said the official. The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) NE-I Circle Chief General Manager D. P. Singh said that amongst the 173 hotspot connections, a total of 94 would be installed here in Tripura. Singh said that the Broadband service would be strengthened in the state very shortly. “To make Broadband service more reliable and faster, BSNL has decided to introduce Broadband hotspots. This will boost the Internet service in the state”, he mentioned.

Facility of the free Wi-Fi can be availed by anybody who has the devices with Wi-Fi receiver and devices such as smart phones, laptops and others.  Kolkata based C-DAC has been involved in the book digitization process at Birchandra State Central Library since June 2011. 

The digital library will operate from the Birchandra State Central Library, the oldest library in the region which was set up in 1896 in the capital. Birchandra library has a huge collection of books, journals, manuscripts and annual reports in all subjects.

The books and journals would be digitized so that they are accessible online via a searchable online database.

Besides English, rare books in Bengali and tribal language Kokborok will also be available in the digital library. The initiative is aimed at creating a portal of heritage books and manuscripts of India.

The first of its kind free Wi-Fi hotspot connection had also brought a boon to the learning of students where they would be able to access learning materials on their smart phones and laptops.

However, the initiative is part of the Digital India program of the government which aims to give Wi-Fi access to all cities with a population of over 1 million by December 2015.

Besides, in a bid to improve the telecom services in the north eastern states, the government will invest Rs 5,000 crore to set up over 8,000 mobile towers in the region. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had last year recommended an investment plan to improve services in north east India.