BSNL's 25,000 Wi-Fi hotspots yield near-zero revenue: House panel

BSNL is a telephone and internet company owned by the government of India.

It planned to set up 25,000 Wi-Fi internet spots in villages, where people could connect to the internet.

The government paid money to help run these spots.

But a special group of lawmakers called a parliamentary committee checked what happened.

They found that BSNL did not earn much money from these Wi-Fi spots.

In fact, BSNL earned very little while spending a lot of government money.

Some of the Wi-Fi spots were switched on too late to get the government support.

A few spots were never switched on at all.

The committee also said BSNL gave free Wi-Fi for too long and did not convince people to pay for it.

The committee wants people in charge to be held responsible for the lost money.

BSNL and the government say their newer internet projects are designed to earn money better.