Telecom providers have informed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that the country’s reasonable 4G and 5G services make the Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM Wani) program and public Wi-Fi in general outdated.
Public Wi-Fi hotspot deployment is progressing slowly, with an average data usage per hotspot of just a few megabytes, despite telecom companies’ primary focus being on the extension of wireless Internet services in rural areas.
The high cost of access through Internet private lines levied by telecom service providers and Internet service providers from public data offices is one of the reasons the project has not taken off as planned. Telcos claim that since the services are distinct from retail in that they are business in nature, it makes logical for them to charge commercial rates because commercial users will use more data.
It is challenging for public data offices (PDOs) to develop a viable business model from the PM-Wani program because of these increased expenses and declining usage trends.
“In our opinion, PM-Wani service is no more relevant. The inherent flaws in this model caused by mobile data availability and its low costs led to the failure to take off of the model,” Reliance Jio told Trai.
In the 2G–3G era of mobile services, when cell phone usage was rising but mobile data was expensive at about Rs 250 per GB and one had to look for a Wi-Fi access point for basic data needs, Jio claims PDOs may have been helpful. Nevertheless, PM-Wani was put into place in the 2020s, a time when 4G data was widely available and cost about Rs 10 per GB.
Trai’s recent proposal, which is a part of the draft telecommunication tariff (70th Amendment) Order, 2024, aimed at lowering broadband connection rates charged by telcos and Internet service providers (ISPs) from PDOs under PM Wani, served as the impetus for telecom companies to comment on the importance of PM-Wani.
The remaining mile under PM Wani is connected by PDOs, which are neighborhood stores, kiranawalas, retailers, and other business owners that set up public Wi-Fi hotspots.
In order to implement the PM-WANI plan, Trai has suggested that PDOs be charged a tariff rate equivalent to that of retail broadband (FTTH) connections for the capacities for which the service is delivering the aforementioned retail tariff to customers.
Telcos already charge them up to Rs 8 lakh annually under commercial rates for providing Internet-leased lines for bandwidth. End users can purchase data packets under PM Wani for Rs 5–10 per day.
Telcos, on the other hand, have stated that the telecom tariff order (TTO) must stay under tolerance and have expressed opposition to any changes being made to it.
“We are surprised to see the draft TTO on the tariff aspect of the PM-Wani scheme, which has never been discussed with the stakeholders. We understand that before issuing this Draft-TTO, Trai should have done consultation on desirability of PDO service in the light of current proliferation of 4G/5G services and availability of data services at the cheapest rate in the world,” said the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).
Bharti Airtel claims that the proposed TTO amendment is the wrong solution to address consumers’ failing or waning interests in public WiFi hotspots.
According to Jio, if the draft TTO is put into effect, a PDO will be able to purchase unlimited data for Rs 399 and sell at least 1 GB of data to (about) 1,000 clients each month at a lower price than the market—Rs 10 per GB (a mobile data pack that contains 1 GB costs Rs 19—resulting in an unexpected profit of more than 2000%. By selling the same number of 1 GB data packets, this would rob the TSP of a potential revenue of Rs. 19,000 and the government of its income share.
Telcos further contended that no extra load should be placed on them because PM-Wani is funded through the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which is already supported by donations from telcos.
The tech industry’s advocacy group, the Broadband India Forum (BIF), has refuted the telecoms’ claims. It stated that a change in the rates for broadband connectivity to PDOs is unquestionably necessary and that the excessively high rates must be lowered to a level that is appropriate and equivalent to the rates for the same service that TSPs and ISPs offer for FTTH.
PDO does not require internet leased line (ILL) access for PM-Wani.
“This artificially created barrier of ILL connectivity having extra-ordinarily high tariffs has resulted in a very anomalous situation,” BIF said.
In fact, the Department of Transportation had informed Trai that, frequently, PDOs are required by TSPs and ISPs to link to public WiFi access points using pricey Internet private lines rather than ordinary FTTH broadband connections, citing various business agreements.
The DoT PDO pamphlet states that the average yearly broadband cost for PDO is Rs 6,000. The cost of internet access, which PDOs are required to pay between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 8 lakh yearly, varies greatly, according to BIF.
According to official data as of July 22, there are 199 PDOAs, 111 app providers, and 207,642 deployed PM-Wani Wi-Fi hotspots nationwide. The National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 established an aim of enabling the deployment of 5 million public Wi-Fi hotspots by 2020 and 10 million by December 2025. This target is not met.
Moreover, the Bharat 6G Vision has established the target of 50 million public WiFi hotspots by 2030 as part of the Digital India 2030 mobile and broadband policy objectives.
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