Major RFP Issued for On-board Content on Over 2,000 Trains

RailTel Corporation has issued a Request for Proposals to provide an on-board entertainment service on over 2,000 trains in India. The company said that it will examine bids in the first quarter of this year.

The full RFP provides functional and technical requirements for providing a Content on Demand Service on the trains and at all 6,072 WiFi-enabled railway stations throughout India.

To obtain a copy of the full document, please e-mail Ross.Parsons@BWCS.com .

RailTel, now a private company, but, until last year, a subsidiary of Indian Railways, is responsible for the RailWire service at stations and is known to have plans to provide on-board connectivity too.

In 2021, the company revealed plans to offer high-speed broadband and WiFi services in remote villages. RailTel said it will use its vast fibre-optic network to facilitate fast connections in India’s rural hinterland. So far, its plans seem to have struck a chord with investors and its share-price has soared since debuting on the Indian Stock Exchange last February.

In June of last year, India’s much trumpeted plans to build a national network of track-side LTE masts moved a step closer to reality, when the government approved the allotment of 5Mhz of spectrum in the premium 700MHz radio band for use by the railways. The spectrum will be used to introduce LTE-based Mobile Train Radio Communication (MTRC) along major routes.

Track-side connectivity and on-board WiFi provision will be the main subjects of this year’s Traincomms Conference.  

Please see www.Traincomms.com where you can also sign up for our Free WiFi on Trains News Service.

Or, to discuss speaking and sponsorship opportunities in 2022, please contact Ross.Parsons@BWCS.com

BWCS Consultancy

As many companies start to look forward into 2022, and how they can increase their revenues, remember that BWCS is available for ad hoc consultancy to support your aspirations. Our core competencies including Understanding your markets, Growing your business, and Modelling your business options. Although we are best known for our work in the Transport sector, we also work in the Defence & Security and the Telecommunications Sectors too. Please get in touch to discuss your requirements and if we can help we will, and if we can’t we will tell you so… ChrisBD@BWCS.com

India is also one of over 30 country markets to be covered in www.Internet4trains.com  BWCS’ online database covering the niche market for on-train WiFi services across Europe and beyond.