Dabba Network scales PM-WANI Wi-Fi rollout across India

As India’s digital adoption accelerates, driven by platforms such as UPI, online education, telehealth services, and the wider digital economy, the need for reliable, affordable, and inclusive internet access has become increasingly important. Addressing this requirement is Dabba Network, a community-led broadband marketplace that has emerged as a significant implementer of the Indian government’s PM-WANI initiative. The company’s approach combines decentralised deployment with a sustainable operating model, translating the policy framework into practical outcomes on the ground.

Over the past year, Dabba Network has expanded rapidly across underserved and high-demand areas. It has deployed 73,128 public Wi-Fi hotspots through local entrepreneurs and community partners. The network currently supports around 243,609 daily users across activities such as digital payments, work, education, and entertainment. During this period, users consumed 47,540 TB of data, while the network recorded 426,900 active home passes and 48,650 new connection requests. Local providers have sold 23,601 hotspots, indicating both commercial participation and community uptake.

Launched in 2020, PM-WANI (Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface) was designed to create open and interoperable digital infrastructure to accelerate public Wi-Fi deployment. The initiative aimed to enable small internet service providers, hotspot owners, and local entrepreneurs to participate in broadband expansion. While PM-WANI established the framework, Dabba Network has focused on implementing it at scale, particularly in areas where traditional telecom models have struggled to deliver last-mile connectivity.

By working with local cable operators (LCOs), hotspot owners, bandwidth providers, hardware suppliers, and location partners, Dabba Network has rolled out PM-WANI-compliant Wi-Fi infrastructure in neighbourhoods that remain underserved. These include areas where high infrastructure costs, limited fibre reach, and legacy business models have constrained broadband access.

According to the company, India’s connectivity challenge remains significant. Despite having more than 800 million mobile broadband users, the country has only around 40 million fixed broadband connections, with penetration in lower-income communities estimated at as little as one connection per 100 people. Dabba Network’s model seeks to address this gap through community-managed hotspots, low-cost data packs starting at Rs 1, and locally tailored distribution.

At the core of this approach is a decentralised infrastructure marketplace that aligns incentives across stakeholders. The system uses a token-based mechanism to reward network uptime, service quality, and expansion, with the aim of supporting long-term maintenance and growth of local networks.

This model has also created new opportunities for local cable operators, many of whom have faced declining revenues in recent years. Through simplified onboarding, affordable equipment, and performance-linked incentives, LCOs are able to act as neighbourhood internet distributors, supporting both network expansion and local economic participation.

Dabba Network’s experience illustrates how community-led implementation, aligned with government policy, can help extend digital access in areas where conventional approaches have been less effective, contributing to broader efforts to narrow India’s last-mile connectivity gap.