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Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI)

This is probably the most ambitious initiative by the Government of India to bring high-speed Internet and data access within reach.

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VoicenData Bureau
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Prime Ministers Wi Fi Access1

This is probably the most ambitious initiative by the Government of India to bring high-speed Internet and data access within reach of every India. It is aimed at Digital Inclusion and reducing the Digital Divide

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With the widespread availability of mobile high-speed 4G networks, there are huge sections in the country that continue without coverage (for a variety of reasons). And it is here that the PM WANI framework could play a big role in ensuring equitable access to 21st Century technologies for every citizen in the country.

Background

It was in 2016 that the TRAI embarked upon a concept of bringing Wifi coverage using a unique architecture to every part of the country – inspired by the huge success of the Public Call Offices (PCO) in the early 1990s that brought a telephone within reach of every

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common person, when phone calls were exorbitantly expensive and telephone connections almost impossible to get.

Situation pre-intervention and background

Broadband has become a critical platform for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness, and improved way of life. World Bank’s World Development Report observed that on average a 10% increase in internet penetration, is likely to lead to a 1.4% growth in the GDP of an economy.

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While significant progress in mobile telephony and mobile broadband has been made in our country over the last decade, delivering broadband (BB) to the last mile still remains a challenge.

4G mobile broadband today covers nearly 93% of our population. Measures to provide broadband services to the last unconnected or semi-connected residents in rural and remote areas are vital for economic progress.

Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface - PMWANI

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However, there exist coverage gaps that need to be covered by any form of broadband. ‘Wi-Fi hotspots’ are used to fill this gap in cellular coverage. The proliferation of public Wi-Fi under the distributed architecture of the PM-WANI framework is expected to create employment opportunities and also enhance disposable incomes in the hands of small and medium entrepreneurs who will be setting up WiFi Access Points. Taking these possibilities into account, Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the Department of Telecom (DoT) on 09.12.2020 to proliferate Broadband through Public Wi-Fi networks under the framework of PM-WANI.

To facilitate ease of doing business and encourage local shops and small establishments to become Wi-Fi providers, it has been approved that the last-mile Public Wi-Fi providers, Public Data Offices (PDOs) require no license, no registration, and will not require to pay any fees to the Government. In fact, PDOAs, who will aggregate the PDOs will also not require any license. These PDOAs will only have to register, for which no fees are charged.

Further, WiFi Access Points have been included in the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for promoting domestic manufacturing of Access point equipment – which will reduce prices.

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Progress so far

• Public Data Office (PDO), establish, maintain, and operate PM-WANI compliant Wi-Fi Access Points and provide last-mile connectivity to deliver Broadband services to subscribers by procuring internet bandwidth from telecom service providers and/ or internet service providers; 99,652 PMWANI HotSpots are live as on 6.7.22

• Public Data Office Aggregator (PDOA), provides aggregation services such as authorization and accounting to PDOs, thereby facilitating PDOs in providing services to the end consumer. As of date, 87 Public Data Office Aggregators are active

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• App Provider, who will develop an Application to register users and ‘discover’ and display PM-WANI compliant Wi-Fi hotspots in the proximity for accessing the internet service and also authenticate the potential Broadband users. As of date, 41 App providers are active.

Impact of Intervention

A number of access points have reached nearly 1 lakh with nearly 13.67 lakh unique users consuming about 24 Petabytes of data in June 2022. This indicates an unmet demand is being met.

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WANI compliance1

WANI compliance1

INTERVIEW: K. Rajaraman

Opening Remarks: “Our Hon’ble Prime Minister has, since its launch in 2020, directed effective deployment and expansion of PMWANI to fill mobile coverage gaps enabling the fulfillment of the national goals of Digital Inclusion, Financial Inclusion, and Broadband for All,” says Mr. K. Rajaraman, Chairman Digital Communications Commission & Secretary (Telecom) in an exclusive chat with Gajendra Upadhyay, Editor Voice & Data.

K Rajaraman1

K Rajaraman1

K. Rajaraman is currently the Secretary, of the Department of Telecommunications, who is right in the midst of the 5G Spectrum auctions – an intensely busy time.

He is a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer of Tamil Nadu cadre and holds a B. Tech in Electronics & Communications; a first-class MBA and a Master of Economics he started his career as a Design Engineer in BHEL, Trichy. During a rich and varied experience as an IAS Officer, he held various administrative positions in the areas of Investment Promotion, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Public Sector Undertakings, Industrial Infrastructure, and VAT Administration.

He was MD of Chennai Metro Railways for nearly 4 years during its early construction phase, Commissioner for Commercial Taxes in Government of Tamil Nadu, and Joint Secretary Expenditure in Government of India in the recent past.

He has also served as Additional Secretary, Investment, IER, and Administration in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.

Mr. Rajaraman is known as highly approachable, intensely focused, and blessed with a very sharp and deep understanding of technology. He is creating the next generation, enabling framework for the Government’s Aatmanirbhar initiatives in Telecom and 5G. He strongly believes in the capabilities of Indian entrepreneurs to build world-class 5G networks with R&D and equipment made indigenously.

His aim is to help in fostering an eco-system so that the brightest minds in the country contribute to technology development – one shining example of this is the BSNL 4G and 5G networks powered by local R&D of C-DoT and involvement of TCS.

Despite all these pressures on his time, he agreed to share his thoughts on how WiFi can be a huge contributor to reducing inequities in Internet access and a deep dive into the PM WANI concept.

What are the key pain points in Digital India, that PM WANI would help address?

The objective of PM WANI Hotspots is to provide Internet coverage in places where either the mobile signal is not available (indoors, in buildings, or in remote areas) or where the footprint of the mobile is poor. It aims to fill these gaps in coverage and privde deprived sections with Data access and digital inclusion.

Public Wifi hotspots are mostly used in indoor locations like railway stations, tourist spots, remote villages or sparsely populated clusters, hospitals etc. There is a need for alternate technologies to bring Internet here and PM WANI plays an important role in the increased proliferation of Broadband through the deployment of Public Wi-Fi hotspots.

How does the PM WANI Policy Framework encourage private players?

It was with the aim of enabling broadband and Internet proliferation across every corner of the country that the government, in December 2020, approved the PMWANI framework.

Under this framework, we have enabled the setting up of public Wi-Fi networks by small and local Kirana or neighborhood shops to be known as Public Data Offices (PDO). They will not require any licensing or registration.

PMWANI is an aggregator model in which PDOs set up the last mile broadband connectivity and an aggregator known as PDOA does the role of Authorization, Accounting, etc.

As such small shopkeepers can generate additional income both via Wifi as well by way attracting customers due to Wifi facilities by installing PM WANI Hotspots.

As of date, 87 Public Data Office Aggregators are active and 41 App providers are live for providing customers the.

What is the outreach plan for this proliferation and establishment of the large numbers of Wi-Fi hotspots?

Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked all State / UT Governments to establish PM WANI hotspots at places such as bus stands, Ration Shops, Utility Service Centres, etc.

The Department has also approached Central Ministries responsible for Smart Cities, Hospitals, Tourist Places, Railway, Airports, Monuments, etc. for the proliferation of Public Wi-Fi under the PM WANI (Prime Minister’s Wireless Access network Interface) framework.

Railways have already initiated action to cover 6000 railway stations with Public WiFi under PM WANI. BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) has also established 35000 Hotspots across the country. Most of the hotspots of BSNL are working in rural areas thus enabling such areas with public Wifi. The total count of WiFi hotspots under PMWANI is over 99,000.

A number of access points have reached nearly 1 lakh with nearly 13.67 lakh unique users consuming about 24 Petabytes of data. This indicates an unmet demand.

Which are the States that are most successful in implementing this as of now – and how?

As per the Hotspots data, Karnataka and Maharashtra have the maximum number of hotspots, i.e. 16791 and 12903 respectively. (see Table for state-wise Hotspots)

There is about the Viability and value for investors and Startups about this scheme, what are your thoughts on this?

The global Wi-Fi market is projected to reach about USD 25.2 billion by 2026. With the advent of newer Wi-Fi technologies like Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, this Wi-Fi market holds huge potential and there are no boundaries.

The beauty of PM-WANI is that it disaggregates the whole value chain and each component of this chain can be operated by different entities, thereby opening the opportunity for smaller players. PM WANI framework binds all these entities - PDO, PDOA, and App providers - together by ensuring interoperability.

Therefore, the total investments to be made are also disaggregated. It is not an end to end full stack network. The requirement for investments for each entity operating only in a part of the value chain is, therefore, lesser and more manageable.

It is estimated that the total cost -- including CAPEX and OPEX - for PDOAs will be in the range of Rs 35,000 to 40,000 per month. This will depend upon the model being followed.

In our estimates, PDOAs can get a whole stack developed by themselves with the initial investment in a software stack development or can opt for an outsourced model.

The PDOA collects revenues by selling coupons to end users and it shares this revenue with the PDOs based on the usage of an access point. Based on various types of plans created by PDOAs for the users, a PDOA can break even if it is able to serve up to 100 PDOs.

As far as the PDOs are concerned, the ones who provide the last mile access, for them the fixed investments will be an affordable 10,000 to 15000 and a running cost of around 2000 per month for bandwidth and other charges.

This excludes opportunity costs for his own entrepreneurship. Such PDOs can recover their costs easily, depending upon usage by the PM WANI users. All these details are explained on the PM WANI website

As regards the end user, they are currently paying approximately Rs 10 per GB of data (average as per TRAI), to mobile data networks.

statewise break up of hotspots1

statewise break up of hotspots1

Under the PM WANI PDOs are able to offer data services at Rs 1 to Rs 2 per GB of data – this is due to the lower input costs.

So the viability of these projects is robust and at par with any other Business opportunity, more so because data is the most integral part of all economic activity today, from education to entertainment.

Government incentivises1

Government incentivises1

PM WANI Hotspots can provide Internet in places where mobile signals are not available. Public WiFi works on a free, unlicensed band spectrum where operators are not required to pay any fee for the spectrum. WiFi will complement the mobile technology in the proliferation of Broadband in our country. This is also a global trend.

How do you see WiFi reducing the Digital Divide?

BSNL has already established about 35000 WiFi hotspots in rural areas. Recently Government of UP has taken the decision to set up PMWANI compliant Wifi Hotspots in 58,000 Gram Panchayats. RailTel is expanding this across all and a host of private players.

BBNL has also signed agreements with ISPs who can provide internet services in rural areas using the Bharatnet Optical fiber infrastructure.

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