A small town in rural Kerala, and not the famed IT cities and financial capitals of the country has become the first free wi-fi municipality in India.

The 68,000 residents of Malappuram Municipality in Malappuram district will soon have access to free wi-fi from 20 hotspots within municipal limits.

On Friday, the municipality rolled out the first phase of implementation in which user ids and passwords were handed out to 2,500 people. On Saturday, 7,500 more people will be given passwords.

Wi-fi access is currently available throughout the 33 sq.km municipal area in the twin towns of Uphill and Downhill.

Inauguration of the wi fi service

The project to ensure free and good connectivity was jointly executed by the State IT department, the Malappuram municipality and the RailTel Corporation of India. It has however been made clear that no large downloads will be allowed. Ahem.