Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced during his recent visit to the Google Inc. GOOGL headquarters that over the next few years, the search giant intends to offer free Wi-Fi to 500 train stations across the country.
Modi recently met with the heads of the tech industry's largest companies, including Apple Inc. AAPL CEO Tim Cook and Facebook, Inc. FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The Might of Indian Railways
According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the Indian Railways serves approximately 25 million daily passengers and connects 7,500 stations. PM Modi further stated that the Indian Railways network covers an area that is equivalent to a country in Europe.
Google’s Plan
CEO Pichai wrote in the company's blog post, "We think this is an important part of making the internet both accessible and useful for the more than 300 million Indians already online, and the nearly one billion more who are not".
The service, initially to be offered for free, will ultimately be turned into a self-sustaining project. It will begin by connecting 100 stations and gradually add 400 more by next year.
Pichai announced that the Wi-Fi services will support PM Modi's 'Digital India' campaign.
Next month, Google will launch an Android version to enable users to type in 11 Indian languages.
The PM believes that technology, with proper utilization, has the potential to bring about a qualitative change in the living standards of the general mass.
Google currently holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Another stock in the same space worth a look is Stamps.com Inc. STMP which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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