Google Station was a

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

service that allowed partners to roll out

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

hotspots Hotspot, Hot Spot or Hot spot may refer to: Places * Hot Spot, Kentucky, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Hot Spot (comics), a name for the DC Comics character Isaiah Crockett * Hot Spot (Tra ...

in public places by providing software and advice on hardware to turn fiber connections into Wi-Fi. It was only implemented in India and Indonesia but in March 2018, the service was launched in Mexico. In February 2020, Google announced the service would be discontinued. The service went offline on September 30, 2020.

RailTel RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India. It provides broadband and VPN services. RailTel was formed in September 2000 with the objective of creating a nat ...

took over the service in India and continues to offer free WiFi at railway stations.

Overview

Google Station seeks to provide "fast Wi-Fi for everyone". It also highlights that data will be "safe and protected" on Google's network. As it envisions expanding the offering, potential partners include "large venues and organizations,

network operators Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

, fiber providers, system integrators, and infrastructure companies". Google Station's advantages include being a simple, easy-to-use solution (both for users as well as partners) that also offers monetization opportunities through advertising (Google Station calls itself "an advertising platform, backed by a world-class advertising sales team and network").

History

India

The program was first announced in September 2015, when

Indian Prime Minister The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

visited Google's headquarters in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

. Google CEO

Sundar Pichai Pichai Sundararajan (born June 10, 1972), better known as Sundar Pichai (), is an Indian-American business executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google. Born in Madurai, India, Pichai earned hi ...

further detailed the plan in a blog post on the Official Google Blog, noting that it would be the "largest public Wi-Fi project in India, and among the largest in the world, by number of potential users". In January 2016, Google launched the program at the

Mumbai Central railway station Mumbai Central (formerly Bombay Central, station code: MMCT) is a major railway station on the Western line, situated in Mumbai, Maharashtra in an area known by the same name. It serves as a major stop for both Local and Inter-City/Express tr ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in partnership with

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

and

. RailTel, a

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...

, provides Internet services as RailWire via its extensive fiber network alongside many of these railway lines. In September 2016, the project was christened "Google Station". In December 2016, Google announced that it had rolled out Google Station at the 100th railway station in India. In January 2018,

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

reported that Google had started testing a paid model of Google Station, which is slated to reach as many as 400 railway stations in 2018. Later that month, Google announced that for the first time the Google Station projected had expanded beyond railway stations by launching 150 hotspots in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

. It worked with

Larsen & Toubro Larsen & Toubro Ltd, commonly known as L&T, is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, with business interests in engineering, construction, manufacturing, technology, information technology and financial services, headquartered in Mumba ...

, India's largest engineering and construction company, and the project is a part of

Smart City Pune Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is on a list of 100 smart cities declared by the Government of India for development under the Smart Cities Mission. Pune's quest for better urban living got a boost as it was listed among 100 cities selected by t ...

, a part of India's

Smart Cities Mission National Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the Government of India with the mission to develop smart cities across the country, making them citizen friendly and sustainable. The Union Ministry of Urban Devel ...

. In June 2018, Google announced that it had deployed WiFi at 400 railway stations across India with

Dibrugarh railway station Dibrugarh railway station is a railway junction station on the Lumding–Dibrugarh section. Rated as A Category railway station in Northeast Frontier Railway. It is located in Dibrugarh :The Tea City of India and 3rd largest city in the Ind ...

being the 400th station. The company also stated that the service was being used by around 8 million users per month and the average data session on Google Station consumed 350 MB of data.

Launch outside India

Google announced that it was bringing Google Station to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

in partnership with FiberStar and CBN, two Indonesian telecommunications companies that plan on rolling out Wi-Fi hotspots at hundreds of venues across the islands of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

and

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

in 2018. In March 2018 it announced expansion into Mexico, in partnership with the existing SitWifi network. In July 2018, at the "Google for Nigeria" event, Google station was launched in Lagos with the promise of expanding to 200 locations in 5 cities in the country by 2019. In February 2019, Google Station was launched in the Philippines, in partnership with

Smart Smart or SMART may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014 * Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com * ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper * ''SMart'', a children's television ser ...

. In June 2019, Google Station was made available in the city of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, with expansion to other Brazilian cities planned. The program in Brazil involves America Net and Linktel as partners, and Itaú as a sponsor. In November 2019, Google Station was launched in 125 locations around

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in partnership with Think WiFi.

Closure

In February 2020, Google announced the service would be discontinued, saying that it was "no longer necessary," and "it had become difficult for Google to find a sustainable business model to scale the program." The service went offline on September 30, 2020. In India, RailTel took over the service and continues to offer free WiFi without Google branding.

References