Telecom operators have opposed public Wi-Fi model recommended by the sector regulator TRAI, saying it will adversely impact debt ridden industry and compromise national security.
Based on existing rules for cyber cafes, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had recommended that a new set of players to be called Pubic Data Office Aggregator (PDOA) should be allowed to resell Internet services through yesteryear PCO type of set-up that will be called Public Data Offices.
“...the proposal to sell internet services without a licence, will be a complete bypass of present licensing framework, detrimental to massive investments already made in spectrum, telecom infrastructure...,” COAI DG Rajan S. Mathews said in a letter to Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan.
However, a report said proliferation of public Wi-Fi can provide $3 billion potential revenue opportunity for telecom operators between 2017-2019, as it will help adding new customers and increasing data consumption by existing users.
User interest
The study by Analysys Mason, commissioned by Google, found “a significant fraction of users” saying they would be interested in purchasing a new mobile broadband SIM card to continue accessing high speed Internet, after having experienced high speed Internet through high-speed wi-fi services from Google-Railtel.
