Public Wi-Fi is one of the affordable ways by which users get access to the Internet apart from mobile or fixed line broadband services offered by the Telecom and Internet Service Providers (TISPs). However, public Wi-Fi coverage in India is poor. Public Wi-Fi hotspots per million people in the UK, the US, and China are 175, 50, and 75 times that of India. Noting the lack of public Wi-Fi infrastructure in India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended open common specifications referred to as “Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (WANI)” in 2017. The WANI exhibits characteristics of a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to provide affordable broadband to netizens in India.

The model envisioned setting up of public Wi-Fi hotspots in Public Data Offices (PDOs) by local entrepreneurs with methods for monetizing Internet access and, at the same time, providing affordable Internet access to users. Subsequently, the Government of India launched the Prime Minister WANI (PMWANI) scheme as approved by the Cabinet in December 2020.

However, the PMWANI scheme has met with only limited success.

The PDOs, typically owned and operated by local entrepreneurs, need to acquire the Internet backhaul (also called as the Internet Leased Line — ILL service) from the TISPs at wholesale tariff for deploying their WANI networks. These commercial tariffs charged by the TISPs are multiple times that of the TISPs’ own retail home broadband service (also called as the Fibre To The Home – FTTH) tariff, and makes it financially unviable for the PDOs. There are regulatory restrictions on the use of home FTTH retail service as backhaul for the WANI networks.

Realising the above, TRAI, after consultations, issued Telecommunications Tariff Amendment Order on June 16, allowing the PDOs to avail FTTH connections for their WANI backhaul at not more than twice the retail home broadband tariffs, subject to specified speed limits. This regulatory intervention is expected to reduce the backhaul charges for PDOs and, in turn, reduce the prices of the WANI services, thereby leading to possible increase in public Wi-Fi penetration in the country.

However, this tariff-capping regulation has been met with opposition from the TISPs. They argue that the mandated offering of retail FTTH service to the PDOs will lead to migration of their existing FTTH home broadband user base to the PDOs, thereby eroding their revenue stream. Further, the drastic reduction in the backhaul tariff will also make their business unviable.

A substitute?

The important question is whether the WANI scheme offered by the PDOs is a substitute or complementary to the home broadband services of the TISPs. Since the PDOs cater to small subscriber base in a localised market, it cannot be considered entirely as a substitute to services being offered by the TISPs. At the same time, much like the Virtual Network Operators (VNOs), the PDOs provide access service and do not own the core telecom infrastructure. It depends on the TISP to carry the data traffic to the internet. Hence if the public Wi-Fi hotspots proliferate in the country, the TISPs benefit due to larger backhaul traffic that is generated towards monetisation.

Moreover, the PDOs can only offer data service and are not allowed by regulation to offer voice, SMS, emergency calling and associated service which licensed TISPs can only provide. In summary, the public Wi-Fi service offered by the PDOs can be considered as complementary to the cellular or home broadband service provided by the TISPs.

However, since both provide the same Internet broadband service, they are partially substitutable. Hence tariff capping regulation shall take into account the interests of both the TISPs and PDOs.

Our research on the above indicates that this level of tariff capping will make it sustainable for both the TISPs and PDOs, especially in rural areas where there is a complete absence of FTTH home broadband. However, our research indicates that even with the tariff capping, the PDO market will witness extremely limited competition with only one or two PDOs sustainably providing their WANI service in each local area.

Since promoting a competitive and sustainable public Wi-Fi scheme is one of the objectives of the WANI scheme, the TRAI and DoT shall consider other regulatory interventions. We propose a one-time subsidy to cover the initial set-up costs of the PDO. Our simulation results indicate that such a subsidy is likely to provide stimulus to the PDO market and induce competition and provide financially sustainable business for local entrepreneurs. Funding from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) using an appropriate methodology such as reverse auction or loss-subsidy may be appropriate for subsidy disbursal to the PDOs.

While technologies such as Wi-Fi, cellular and home broadband complement each other, it is time that the corresponding service providers look at this as a synergy and not as competition, in furthering the much-needed Internet broadband penetration in the country.

Sridhar is Professor, and Agrawal is research scholar, at IIIT-Bangalore. Views are personal

Published on June 19, 2025