WSJ writes about the threat posed to traditional telcos by Google’s plans to offer free WiFi in San Francisco:
By offering consumers free service, Google could pressure traditional providers to slash fees for Internet access, a growing source of telecom revenue — when they don’t have Google’s advertising revenue to make up the difference, and have large, extensive networks for transmitting voice and data to maintain.
Google’s proposal to use wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, technology would cost far less than a traditional network. It also would give Google a direct pipeline into consumers’ homes — long the big edge for telephone and cable companies.
Wi-Fi enables very fast wireless Internet access by essentially spraying an existing connection out for several hundred feet with wireless antennas. It can bypass the valuable last-mile connections of local telephone and cable companies to homes and businesses and instead allow users to connect to the alternative network of a fiber or long-distance provider.
Can we do something similar in India?
