Google has announced a finalized deal to assist to increase usage of its social networking site Google+ in India. Indian users of the social network will now be able to log into the Google+ for free through Wi-Fi provided by O-Zone Networks, according to Business Standard.
This offer which will run for the first three months and will permit unlimited usage of Google+ along with 10 minutes of free access to YouTube per week but any other websites can only be accessed by paying for minutes.
O-Zone presently has 5,000 Wi-Fi access points all over India, which includes coverage at selected outlets of Café Oz ,Tea Leaf ,Café Coffee Day, McDonalds, Coffee Bean, OM Bookshop Costa Coffee and Subway where the free access can be enjoyed.
It is understood that Google using the deal to promote Google+ in India but O-Zone CEO Sanjeev Sarin thinks that this initiative will assist to promote the use of Wi-Fi in India and can act as an alternative of 3G in India .
This colloboration between O-Zone Networks and Google India reinforces the fact that people are now realizing the strength of Wi-Fi which will grow parallel with 3G and 4G technology. Wi-Fi has better speed than 3G.
O-Zone remains a niche provider, but Sarin disclosed that the O-Zone Networks’s registrations rise 30 percent over recent months. The company is targeting 50,000 hotspots nationwide by 2013, which would make O-Zone, the India’s largest Wi-Fi service provider.
Internet penetration is less than 10 percent in India, with mobile seen as a key enabler of Internet usage in India. Google is seeing enormous success on mobile in India where it claims that 40 percent of its total searches in India and 67 percent of its e-commerce comes from users on mobiles.
.comScore disclosed that India was the second biggest user of Google+ behind the US last July but just two months later, Experian Hitwise survey showed that Singapore had beaten it into second place in Asia.
