Soon, public Wi-Fi access in cities with over 1 m people

Soon, you will be able to watch your favourite movie or listen to live streaming music on your phones and tablets even if you do not have a 3G or 4G connection. The Government is embarking on an initiative to enable Wi-Fi services in public areas in cities with a population of more than 1 million.

This is part of the Digital India project being monitored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Department of Telecom has been asked to work out the modalities of the project, including having a separate licensing framework for private players interested in offering Wi-Fi services.

Currently, Wi-Fi enabled Internet services are available only within select campuses, malls and airports. Globally, there are a number of cities such as Barcelona and Amsterdam where Wi-Fi-based Internet access is available even in public areas such as bus stops and metro trains.

While services in some of the global cities are available at zero charge, the DoT is not in favour of making the services free. “We will discuss with telecom and internet service providers on the mechanism to achieve the target. This could also involve a package to the telecom players to encourage investments in creating smart cities covered by Wi-FI,” said a top DoT official.

The biggest advantage for users will be that they will not have to depend on availability of telecom network or 3G spectrum to access data services. Compared to traditional telecom networks, which require towers, base stations and licensed spectrum, Wi-Fi services are offered on free-to-use unlicenced spectrum bands.

Globally, telecom companies are increasingly offloading data services onto such Wi-Fi networks to decongest their pipes. In India, even cable TV players and standalone Internet Service Providers such as Hathway and Spectranet could tap into this opportunity.

The downside is that there could be increased security threats or data theft because data transmitted on a public Internet system could be hacked into if it is not secured properly. The other concern could be quality of service. Telecom companies have full control over airwaves allocated to them and therefore can ensure a certain quality of service. In the case of Wi-Fi services it becomes a shared commodity. Therefore if too many people start logging into the Internet using a Wi-Fi hotspot at the same time, as in a stadium or a conference hall, the network can get clogged.

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