The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday issued a consultation paper, seeking views on the use of public Wi-Fi networks for expansion of broadband in the country. The regulator said this was likely to result in faster Internet speeds, while reducing data costs by up to 90 per cent for consumers.
“The objective of this consultation paper (Proliferation of Broadband through Public Wi-Fi Networks) is to examine the need of encouraging public Wi-Fi networks in the country from a public policy point of view, discuss the issues in its proliferation and find out solutions for the same,” according to the regulator.
August 10 is the last date for submission of comments on issues raised by the regulator which include regulatory issues and licensing restrictions that hamper the growth of public Wi-Fi, measures required for expansion, challenges in using Wi-Fi hotspots as well as in making payments and business models. Counter-comments can be sent till August 24.
TRAI pointed out that the state of Wi-Fi hotspots was not encouraging in India. According to data by iPass and Maravedis Rethink, India had 29,205 Wi-Fi hotspots in 2014 (and 31,518 in 2016). However, this is significantly lower compared to countries like France, the U.S., and U.K., which have 13 million, 9.8 million and 5.6 million hotspots, respectively.
The regulator estimated that usage of Wi-Fi networks will bring down the approximate cost per MB of data usage to less than 2 paise as opposed to the current 23 paise per MB on 2G, 3G and 4G networks. “…the consumer tariff for data may reduce as much as 1/10th in Wi-Fi compared to mobile data,” it said.
