The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is apparently capping connectivity costs for public Wi-Fi providers in what is widely seen as an effort to boost internet accessibility, but one that has not been well received by the companies whose infrastructure is helping to enable public Wi-Fi.
Broadband connectivity costs of public Wi-Fi service providers are now capped at double the rates of home broadband services. The move aims to significantly boost the number of public Wi-Fi hotspots under the Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-Wani) initiative.
The tariff cap will apply to all fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) plans up to 200 megabits per second (Mbps) offered by the service providers to the Wi-Fi providers, also known as public data offices (PDOs).
As India’s Economic Times news service points out, the key objectives of the PM-Wani initiative include providing high-speed and affordable internet access in rural and underserved areas as well as in public spaces such as railway stations, banks and post offices.
Local shopkeepers, retailers and tea-sellers were among those encouraged to become PDOs for last-mile internet delivery without the need of a permit or registration fee.
However, the PM-Wani initiative has not even hit one thirtieth of its 2022 target set at the launch of the scheme in 2020. The aim was to create 10 million public Wi-Fi hotspots by 2022 and 50 million by 2030. By the end of April estimates suggest there were only 278,801 deployed PM-Wani Wi-Fi hotspots in the country.
TRAI feels the high rates demanded by service providers are the main reason for this low take-up. It suggests that the revised pricing framework is more affordable but still ensures a reasonable return for the broadband connection to the service providers.
This has not proved popular with service providers, who feel that lowering broadband connectivity costs would hit their revenue streams, while helping PDOs using their network infrastructure to make profits.
