
Telecom secretary Anshu Prakash said registrations for applying to offer these services under the recently launched Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM Wani) initiative will open by the first week of January, kick-starting the government’s drive to make Wi-Fi ubiquitous across public spaces. New Delhi: The government is targeting a four-fold increase in public Wi-Fi access points to 2 million by the end of 2021, telecom department secretary Anshu Prakash said.
New Delhi: The government is targeting a four-fold increase in public Wi-Fi access points to 2 million by the end of 2021, telecom department secretary Anshu Prakash said.
He said registrations for applying to offer these services under the recently launched Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM Wani) initiative will open by the first week of January, kick-starting the government’s drive to make Wi-Fi ubiquitous across public spaces.
He said registrations for applying to offer these services under the recently launched Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM Wani) initiative will open by the first week of January, kick-starting the government’s drive to make Wi-Fi ubiquitous across public spaces.
C-DoT, the technology development centre of the DoT, is working to make 'Wi-Fi access boxes' widely available at around half the market price and we should open the registration process by the first week of next year,” Prakash told ET.
Currently, India has some 500,000 hotspot access points.
Once the service is live, anyone can register as a public data operator aggregator (PDOA) by filling in a one-page form on the central registry portal. If there is no response within seven days of filling the form, the registration is deemed approved, Prakash explained.
The PDOA ties-up with small businesses to install Wi-Fi access points and provides hotspots in public spaces and these entrepreneurs become public data operators (PDOs). A PDO could be the owner of a grocery store or kirana shop and even a pan vendor, and doesn’t need a licence or registration. However, PDOs will have to buy bandwidth from telcos and internet service providers and resell them to consumers.