Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) confirms that launch of Punjab free public Wi-Fi is bridging the gap in digital divide. This also shows the use and acceptance of technology at large scale from masses. Dr. Umar Saif founding Vice Chancellor of Information Technology University (ITU) Punjab, Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) said while reviewing the project.

Punjab free public Wi-Fi has increased the Wi-fi users 513,193 for over 5.1 million sessions for a duration of 4,043,733 minutes (4872 hrs=203 days) and used a Data of 419.73 Terabytes (Download 387.50 TB, Upload 39.73 TB).

He said that the launch of Punjab free Wi-Fi service was a step to smart cities having a revolutionary change in the lives of the common people and to link the digital divide. This service will help the youth for knowledge based activity and an all-time free connectivity at the public places like hospitals, educational institutions, bus terminals, railway station, airport in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, later on, extended to Murree to facilitate the tourists and the general public, he added.

Faisalabad and Bahawalpur in near future will also be equipped with this facility. The project design is in finalization at the time after completion of survey for newly added cities.

The number of concurrent users can connect with Punjab Wi-Fi Hotspot network are 160,000 and now approximately 40,000 to 50,000 users are getting connected from different places on daily basis.

Project has Rs.194 million investments in a year including deployment, operations, and maintenance.