Monkeys scuttle Modi's dreams of Wi-Fi at Varanasi

Power cuts, city traffic decongestion and monkeys - all have one thing in common -main hurdles in IT explosion in the Prime Ministers’ constituency of Varanasi.

As India launches an $18 billion plan to spread the information revolution to its provinces the clash between the old world and the new is sharply in focus in the crowded 3,000-year-old holy city of Varanasi. Varanasi is also home to hundreds of macaque monkeys that live in its temples; fed and venerated by devotees most of whom make the town as their last stop for achieving salvation.

But the monkeys also feast on the fiber-optic cables that are strung along the banks of the Ganges River. We cannot save the OFC also from the Monkeys as they eat up the wire as well, says a Telecom engineer of BSNL.

He said the city of over 2 million people is impossibly crowded and laying underground cable is out of the question. Chasing away or trapping the monkeys will outrage residents and temple-goers. A shortage of electricity is further complicating efforts to set up stable Wi-Fi in public places —daily power cuts can last for hours during the sweltering summer in Varanasi and across much of India.

Modi's government has pledged to lay 700,000 kms (434,960 miles) of broadband cable to connect India's 250,000 village clusters within three years, build 100 new "Smart Cities" by 2020 and shift more public services like education, health, electronic platforms to improve access and accountability. Varanasi was the first of an eventual 2,500 locations singled out for street-level Wi-Fi.

Industry experts predict that the broadband initiative, along with a surge in Smartphone ownership, will depict about a third of Indians having access to the internet by 2017, from about 20% or 250 million people now.

IBM and Network provider Cisco Systems have developed a "ruggedized" Wi-Fi box to survive India's varied climates and cut down on the need for cables that will be at the mercy of the elements — or monkeys.

Bringing some order to India's chaotic cities with technology is a daunting task. India's urban population is forecast to swell by an additional 220 million to 600 million by 2031, potentially overwhelming already inadequate infrastructure.

The free Wi-Fi service that started in February is certainly stimulating the consumer economy. Varanasi remains dependent on a 500-year-old, leaky drainage system for its sewage.