WiFi hotspot plan needs a smooth rollout - The Tribune India

Subir Roy

Senior Economic Analyst

The government has decided to set up public WiFi hotspots across the country which will bring broadband Internet services within the reach of the common man, both financially and physically. This has the potential to bring about a major change in the lifestyle at the grassroots level by making WiFi available to ordinary citizens if, of course, the rollout takes place with reasonable speed in the foreseeable future.

The need for WiFi access has sharply risen in recent years with online verification needed to access various services. The ration shop owner has to access data online to verify ration cards offered and offtake records. Besides, with the Aadhaar card becoming near universal and biometric verification needed at every step, all need quick and reliable access to the Internet. Most recently, the pandemic has highlighted the need for WiFi services to be available to students learning out of home.

A few terms need explaining for the layman. Broadband is what brings large amounts of data to location at high speed to deliver Internet service. WiFi is what enables that data to be accessed wirelessly at location by different devices like more than one laptop. Hotspot is the small area, like within a home or a shop, where WiFi is available.

Broadband usually comes via a cable, but smartphones using the latest 4G (fourth generation wireless) technology are able to deliver a lot of data and Internet access wirelessly.

How accessible the WiFi hotspots — to be called public data offices (PDO) — will be can be gauged from the fact that the aim is to locate them in kirana and paan shops where shopkeepers will resell the data available to them through their router from the Internet. For this, they will need no specialised hardware.

A user will be able to travel anywhere in the country and use a kirana hotspot without making any change in hardware or software. The PDO will do to broadband access what in another era PCOs did to telephone services, bringing them within reach of everybody at a time when having a telephone connection was almost a privilege.

To speed up adoption, a small businessman seeking to locate a PDO in his shop will not even have to get a licence or pay a fee. The scheme, to be called Prime Minister WiFi Access Network Interface or PM-WANI, will have four groups of players. At the grassroots level will be the PDOs, above which will be public data office aggregators (PDOAs) and integrating it all will be a central registry. Facilitating the whole process will be the applications developed by app providers. These apps will enable the service, register users and help a potential user locate the nearest shop which has a PDO.

The PDOAs and app providers will have to get themselves registered with DoT through an online portal without paying any fees. Registration will be granted within seven days, failing which an applicant will get automatically registered.

The PDOs will establish, maintain and operate the WiFi hotspots which will deliver broadband services for a small fee of a few rupees which can be bought in sachets. The PDOAs will be the aggregators for PDOs, delivering both authorisation and accounting services.

How far we have come can be gauged from where and when we began. The national optic fibre network (NOFN) project was launched a decade ago in 2011 and a PSU called Bharat Broadband Network the next year with the aim of connecting 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in two years’ time with advice from Sam Pitroda and Nandan Nilekani. BSNL was asked to provide the map of its optic fibre network so that the project could build out the last mile up to the panchayat offices.

But it was found that what BSNL thought it had under the ground was different from what actually existed. Also e-governance data — covering health, land records, agricultural markets and education — which the panchayats would use did not exist digitally all that much at that time. There was no simultaneous plan to develop the ecosystem needed for the panchayats to deliver public services in the appropriate local language.

Now, cut to the present. The Union Finance Minister in her February Budget speech allocated Rs 6,000 crore for the BharatNet project (NOFN had been renamed) to link one lakh gram panchayats through fibre. This was to enable anganwadis, health and wellness centres, government schools, PDS outlets, post offices and police stations to get digital connectivity. This is part of the Digital India initiative to empower citizens digitally and bridge the digital gap between urban and rural India. BharatNet will be handled by Bharat Broadband Network, set up in 2012.

How has bringing broadband connectivity to gram panchayats progressed? In 2011, it was decided to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in two years. A decade later, 1.5 lakh gram panchayats have been connected. Why the delay? Some of the reasons cited are: work began late; initially used only optic fibre instead of multiple media; problems over right of way; and a whole range of issues related to funding.

So, promising hotspots in kirana stores is fine and needs to be welcomed, but it is advisable to keep your fingers crossed.

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WiFi hotspot plan needs a smooth rollout - The Tribune India
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