The recently-announced public Wi-Fi project will speed up broadband proliferation, especially in rural areas. The government has approved setting up of public Wi-Fi networks and access points by local Kirana and neighbourhood shops through public data offices model that will not involve any licence, fee or registration. The Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface, widely known as PM-WANI, will have an architecture involving multiple players. The proposal will promote the growth of public Wi-Fi networks in the country and, in turn, will help in the proliferation of broadband internet, enhancement of income and employment and empowerment of people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this will revolutionise the tech world. It will further boost the “ease of doing business” and “ease of living”, he tweeted.
Public Wi-Fi project PM-WANI: Salient Features
– This Public Wi-Fi Access Network Interface will be known as PM-WANI.
– PM-WANI eco-system will be operated by different players
– Public Data Office (PDO): It will establish, maintain, and operate only WANI compliant Wi-Fi Access Points and deliver broadband services to subscribers.
– Public Data Office Aggregator (PDOA): It will be an aggregator of PDOs and perform the functions relating to Authorization and Accounting.
– App Provider: It will develop an App to register users and discover WANI compliant Wi-Fi hotspots in the nearby area and display the same within the App for accessing the internet service.
– Central Registry: It will maintain the details of App Providers, PDOAs, and PDOs. To begin with, the Central Registry will be maintained by C-DoT.
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While no registration would be required for PDOs, PDOAs and App Providers will get themselves registered with DoT through online registration portal SARALSANCHAR of DoT, without paying any registration fee. Registration shall be granted within 7 days of the application.
Advantages of public Wi-Fi project PM-WANI:
1) Seamless connectivity is ensured,
2) It is affordable both in terms of bandwidth as well as devices, and
3) Eco-system for complaint redressal is reliable.
Disadvantages of public Wi-Fi project PM-WANI:
1) Transparency
2) Privacy issues
Digitisation in India is now moving at a rapid pace, as is being observed for the last 2-3 years, data consumption is also growing exponentially.
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