Continuing with its strategies to lure in more riders, Ola has today announced the launch of a proprietary new “experience” called ‘Ola Wi-Fi’. While the name obviously implies it has to do something with in-cab Wi-Fi, whats different is the fact that you would be auto-connected to a Wi-Fi enable Ola Cab’s internet, without requiring any credentials multiple times.
Now how is it different from your usual open-access Wi-fi system which you find on hotspots and cafes ? Well, Ola Wi-Fi is pretty much the same deal, except for the fact that it will be offered within the cab and that users would have to register just once, and they’re done.
In a detailed release sent to us, the company describes :
Users with a one-time authentication on their phones, can use Ola Wi-Fi on their devices without having to key in login credentials and passwords in subsequent rides, staying connected with Ola’s secure network whenever they take a ride.
Yup, thats pretty much what Open Access Wi-Fi hotspots do. However, Ola definitely has an upper hand to hotspots on Airports and stations, wherein users have to enter a new, unique OTP every time they wish to use the internet.
Auto-Connect Wi-Fi is currently available for free on Ola Prime and will soon be available across all categories including Micro, Mini and Auto-rickshaws available on the app.
Apart from this launch, Ola has also laid down certain interesting stats on internet usage within its cabs. For instance, the company says that a massive 200 TB+ of data was consumed by riders on a monthly basis via the company’s Prime service, which was earlier making available high speed Wi-Fi in-cab with a standard authentication process. 65% customers who chose Ola Prime, connected to the in-cab Wi-Fi. Thats an impressive conversion, and does speak of the fact that the in-cab Wi-Fi experience is pretty decent.
Talking about this new launch, CTO Ankit Bhati says,
As part of Ola’s Innovation Labs, this first of its kind experience is in line with the Government’s initiatives of Digital India and owes inspiration to large projects like free Wi-Fi in railway stations. We also see this as the beginning of connected cities, with hundreds of thousands of vehicles connecting millions of users on the go!
Stressing how this is a squarely India-targeted solution, Ola says that the Auto-Connect Wi-Fi experience from the company is built on the foundations of key Government initiatives including Digital India and Smart Cities.
The feature has churned out of the company’s ‘Innovation Labs’. These are the same labs which were responsible for tweaking Ola’s app to suit the more common 2G network speeds in India.
