“RailTel is an integral part of the PM WANI project of Govt of India”

Smt. Aruna Singh is currently handling the responsibilities as CMD of RailTel as an additional charge along with her role as Additional Member (Telecom), Railway Board. She is an IRSSE officer (batch of 1985) with over 35 years of experience in Indian Railways.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Telecommunication from Delhi College of Engineering, a Diploma in Public Policy from IIPA, New Delhi and has also done courses in Shanghai and Paris and a Management Strategies course from Carnegie Mellon University, USA.

In a quick chat with Voice&Data, CMD Railtel shares her views on the Wifi plans of the railways and its rollout under the PM WANI framework.

RailTel is playing a prime role in the PM WANI project. What is your plan for rolling this out?

RailTel is an integral part of the PM WANI project of Govt of India. We are already a registered PDOA (Public Data Offices Aggregator) under the PM WANI scheme. We intend to continue to be a torch bearer for bridging the digital divide by serving the underserved through its multi-dimensional approach by enabling its broadband service partners to establish Public Data Offices (PDOs) and penetrate the internet to the village level by all possible alliances.

RailTel has already provided public Wi-Fi at 6100+ stations across India.  Out of these, 200 Railway Stations in 24 states & Union Territories having 2787 Wi-Fi hotspots are now complying with PMWANI. Presently android based Mobile apps can be used to access the Wi-Fi networks; this would be in addition to accessing Wi-Fi at these stations through the conventional method of selecting RailWire SSID.

Can you kindly share the response to the WiDoT app and how passengers on stations are using it?

Android-based WiDoT Mobile App can be used to access the Wi-Fi network; this would be in addition to accessing Wi-Fi at these stations through the conventional method of selecting RailWire SSID.

The conventional method of using public Wi-Fi is highly popular at present.  Access through the Mobile app will pick up as the number of PM WANI compliant networks increases.

Have you seen an improvement in traffic for Internet access from the existing approx 1.2 million logins/month?

In the pre covid times, even with a lesser number of stations, we had a huge number of logins which declined drastically during the pandemic time. However, the numbers are now sharply rising and we are at 1.3 million logins/month.

With life coming back to normalcy, we are expecting to see the numbers going further up consistently.

What percentage of your PM WANI users are paid customers after the free usage

We have made 200 stations Wi-Fi PM WANI compliant very recently. It is too early to talk about numbers.

Can the RailTel accounts that are recharged be portable to all the stations across the country?

Yes, seamlessly across all 6102 Rly stations.

What is the time frame for which a single recharge is valid? Are there any other details on tariffs that you may kindly like to share?

Plans start with per day plan; have monthly validity plans also. Plan details are as follows:

What is the concept of “roaming” in the PMWANI framework, how can it work and what are the technical requirements for this?

Every technology and solution evolves over a period of time and the PM-WANI framework will also evolve; the benefits will multiply once all WiFi networks can virtually be consolidated to enable seamless roaming across all PDOAs’ networks, the way National Roaming works for Mobile Networks so that paid WiFi works across PDOAs public Wi-Fi network instead of recharging separately with each PDOA.

Roaming tie-ups between every PDOA and PDOA are practically not feasible and a WiFi roaming solution can be deployed by someone appointed by DOT (like a mobile clearing house in the mobile sector), which will enable seamless roaming across all PDOAs. It will also act as payment and settlement, a clearing house between PDOAs.

Can the RailTel Wi-Fi hotspots be connected on a seamless roaming platform for users to avail of it across multiple stations and how will it work out

PMWANI enables free usage of Wi-Fi across PDOAs however for paid product usage across PDOAs,

A Wi-Fi roaming bridge is required as explained earlier. RailTel offers seamless usage of its free and paid

Wi-Fi products across 6102 Railway stations spread in entire Bharat.

RailTel is one of the biggest partners of BBNL for the BharatNet rollout, what is the status of this now?

RailTel has played a crucial role in the Bhartnet project which aims to connect gram panchayats across the country. We, as an executing agency, have laid 27421 KM of optical fiber cables and made 8021-gram Panchayats & blocks service ready under the Bharatnet program so far.

Ms. Aruna Singh

CMD, RailTel

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