TRAI invites private firms to participate in its plan to provide low cost public wi-fi hotspots

Telecom regulator TRAI today invited interest from firms to set up on a pilot basis public wi-fi hotspots that will be available for public at a starting price of Rs 2. The public wi-fi hotspots are **proposed to be set up** on the lines of yesteryear’s PCOs that were used for making phone calls by public on paid basis. “TRAI invites all interested entities to be a part of a pilot to establish nationwide, pay-as-you-go PDOs (Public Data Offices)… . The products available for consumption should begin from sachet-sized, i.e. low denominations ranging from Rs 2 to Rs 20, etc,” TRAI said in a statement. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in March had recommended lowering of import duty on wi-fi equipment and mooted the concept of public data offices and aggregators for providing public wi-fi services at cheaper rates. “In India, access to data is still limited due to poor coverage of fibre or telecom and prohibitive pricing of cellular data. Public wi-fi hotspots hold an important place in the last-mile delivery of broadband to users. It allows offloading telecom networks to ease congestion,” TRAI said. It added that public wi-fi hotspots will be crucial when the next billion internet of things (IoT) devices come online. Under the pilot project, TRAI aims to establish an open system based wi-fi access network interface using which any entity (company, proprietorship, societies, non-profits, etc.) should easily be able to set up a paid public wi-fi Access point. “The experience for a small entrepreneur to purchase, self-register, set-up and operate a PDO must be simple, low- touch and maintenance-free,” TRAI said. The regulator has fixed July 25 as the last date for submission of interest from entities.