Google to open own campus in Hyderabad: report

Internet search giant Google is planning to open its own campus in Hyderabad, a top state government official in Telengana said, adding that several other MNCs had shown interest in setting up centres in the city

In fact, reports said, Google is planning to open a huge and permanent campus in Hyderabad and the company is expected to sign a MoU with the Telangana government soon.

This may be great news for the newly carved out state of Telangana and this also proves that Hyderabad is not going to be abandoned by multinational tech companies and that they are going to flock here like they used to do in the past.

The company, which already has a huge office space in Hyderabad said that it was finalising plans to establish a 'permanent and big' campus in Hyderabad. The company would also be signing a memorandum of understanding with the state government of Telangana within the next few weeks.

''We're expected to sign MoU with the giant Google. They're going to open their campus in Hyderabad here. It will be Google's third campus, after the previous two in US and UK,'' said Harpreet Singh, IT, electronics and communications secretary, Telangana.

Currently the search giant has a massive office in Hyderabad, but the company has been functioning from rented premises in the metro city and now wants to move in to a permanent campus.

Singh said Cisco, Airtel, Vodafone and a Taiwanese company, among others, have also responded to the expression of interest floated by the state government on the proposed venture to make Hyderabad a Wi-Fi enabled city.

Many of them were planning partnerships for setting up a centre in Hyderabad, he said, adding that the Taiwanese firm has been behind making Taipei a Wi-Fi enabled city. He said the companies that had evinced interest had sought information such as detailed maps of the city, including roads, and some clarifications with regard to certain specific points.

He said it would take time (to make the city Wi-Fi enabled) as business model was the critical issue. He said making Wi-Fi was not a big problem, but how to monetise it was the key issue.

However, he said, the contract for the venture was expected to be awarded in the next three-four months after the request for proposals had been floated. The successful bidder would be expected to take six months to roll out the infrastructure indicating that the city would likely to be Wi-Fi enabled only towards the end of next year.

Regarding the proposed Rs30 crore incubator facility for technology start-ups, he said its designs had been completed and the process of tendering was in progress.