The Hindu Business Times today reports that the Indian Department of Telecom has identified 45 cities and 705 tourist locations in which they plan to provide WiFi services as part of the Digital India project being monitored by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

Discussion has started between the department and a number of private telecoms companies to roll out the services. It is expected that these networks will use the 60 GHz spectrum band as a key piece of wireless backhaul infrastructure.

The aim is to establish networks covering 2500 square metres capable of servicing 500 users in each location.

10 public places in 45 cities have been identified. The hope is that by using gigabit wireless operating in the 60GHz spectrum to deliver data to local WiFi access points that even users without 3G or 4G connections will be able to stream media onto their devices.

The Digital India project hopes to emulate public WiFi in European cities although there are currently no plans to make access free of charge, as is the case in Barcelona and Amsterdam.

This is a good demonstration of how 60GHz spectrum use is enabling multi-gigabit data transfer over high-speed, short-range WiGig (802.11ad WiFi) networks.  Demonstrations of this kind enforce the notion of 60GHz increasingly being seen as the de facto spectrum choice for low cost network development.

Moreover, with the standards and shape of 5G still being mapped out, the more WiGig and 60GHz are used the greater the likelihood that they will develop into the 5G standard because of associated economies of scale.