New Delhi, June 3 (IANS). Policy think-tank Broadband India Forum (BIF) on Wednesday welcomed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) approach to formally recognize public Wi-Fi as a critical complementary infrastructure for affordable and universal broadband services.
In response to TRAI’s consultation paper on expansion of public Wi-Fi networks, BIF said relying only on mobile networks may not be sufficient to meet India’s future digital ambitions.
According to the forum, public Wi-Fi can make internet services more affordable, improve indoor connectivity, increase spectrum efficiency and reduce the burden of increasing traffic on mobile networks.
BIF urged TRAI to recommend a comprehensive national strategy that would include expansion of infrastructure, development of large-scale ecosystem, technological modernization, promotion of awareness and adoption among users.
The forum suggested that PM-WANI be integrated with BharatNet, state level fiber networks, smart city projects and other public digital assets to accelerate the deployment of Wi-Fi hotspots across the country.
BIF recommended launching a nationwide awareness campaign to educate consumers, businesses and local entrepreneurs about the affordability, security, reliability and benefits of public Wi-Fi.
The Forum said that to strengthen PM-WANI, some large Super PDOAs (Public Data Office Aggregators), scalable PDOAs and a strong ecosystem of app providers should be developed.
This will transform disparate hotspots into a reliable, interoperable and investment-friendly digital platform.
TV Ramachandran, President, Broadband India Forum, said that public Wi-Fi is one of the most important digital public infrastructures in the country, which has the potential to bridge the digital divide.
He said PM-WAN has opened up India’s public Wi-Fi ecosystem by removing years of regulatory restrictions and it should be given a fair opportunity to scale.
Ramachandran said an ecosystem should be developed where telecom service providers (TSPs) and Internet service providers (ISPs) view public Wi-Fi not as a competing service but as a complementary opportunity for broadband expansion.
The Forum also recommended developing open interoperability standards for seamless roaming, authentication and network discovery, so that Wi-Fi access can become as easy and seamless as mobile broadband.
Along with this, it was suggested to prepare a national roadmap for next generation technologies like Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7. For this, availability of cheap equipment, encouragement of domestic manufacturing and arrangement for technical preparation of buildings were also said to be necessary.
BIF said that where market-based services are not available or are not sufficient, public funding can be used. Attention should be given to expanding public Wi-Fi, especially in remote and less developed areas.
The Forum also suggested that the role of municipal bodies and local administration should not be limited to just giving permissions, but they should become active participants in promoting digital infrastructure.
–IANS
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