Proliferation of Broadband through Public Wi-Fi Networks Policy Brief Presentation December, 2017

India Online Population – Current Status Need of Broadband Through Public Wi-Fi Systems India Online Population – Current Status Total Internet Subscribers per 100 population – 27.51 Internet Subscribers per 100 population Urban - 59.53 Rural – 12.98 Data Usage per subscriber per month – Total(GSM+CDMA) – 153.82 MB Current definition of broadband in India, >= 512 kbps download speed US Definition of broadband = 25 Mbps Average Internet connection speed, including wireline and wireless, is 3.5 Mbps, with a global ranking of 114; average mobile wireless speed came at 3.2 Mbps (Source: AKMAI, State of the Internet, Q1 2016) Poor state of wireline broadband penetration, which stands at 6.4% of households Target from the Broadband Commission = 40% 2.28% 20.76 million wired connections Source: TRAI for Quarter Ending June 2016

Lack of Spectrum, Logistics and Business Case are the Key Concerns Regulatory issues, licensing restrictions or other factors that are hampering the growth of public Wi-Fi services Lack of Spectrum, Logistics and Business Case are the Key Concerns Key Issues Details Business viability and incentives Logistics of deployment of public Wi-Fi No Best Practices or Rulebook Availability of Unlicensed Spectrum More spectrum in the 5 GHz band should be made available TV Whitespace (most suitable to provide rural broadband is not available Inadequate backhaul capacity Lack of policy about mobile data offload Reselling of internet data is not allowed Making it mandatory to go for ISP licence Lack of applications and local language content Ambiguity of regulatory network stopping start-ups Lack of viability gap funding Customer log-in experience and interoperability No framework in India for the provision of public Wi-Fi access Interconnectivity and roaming Payment procedures Consistency in QoS Highly fragmented Wi-Fi ecosystem KYC, interoperability, authentication, privacy and security No business case for Rural areas Lack of flexibility to innovate with too many restrictions No clarity on privacy and security Currently, only 5.825 – 5.875 GHz band is allowed for outdoor deployment, and the spectrum bands 5.150-5.350 GHz and 5.725 – 5.850GHz are not allowed for outdoor deployment. We suggest that all bands should be allowed for outdoor deployments and power limitation of lower two band should also be increased to 4 Watts or 36dBm which is currently upto 23 dBm.

Opening the Sector for New Ideas and Players Will Bring Rapid Change Regulatory/licensing or policy measures required to encourage the deployment Public Wi-Fi networks Opening the Sector for New Ideas and Players Will Bring Rapid Change Details Delicensing spectrum Make the 60 GHz band licence free for outdoor use Other bands includes 5150-5350 MHz, 5725-5875 MHz, 71-76/81-86GHz The limitations on power spectral densities and EIRP must be renewed New Business Ideas Opening the sector for start ups and innovation in business models Some examples includes the micro and mini grid solution in the power sector and the Uber model of using existing infrastructure to bring a network effect Ease of entry and Clear exit options for entrepreneurs Incentives Incentives for hotspots in remote and rural areas Mandating use of neutral Wi-Fi deployments in public spaces Government services delivered through e-governance model to remote and rural areas Awareness programs Clear Standards for Public Wi-Fi Allow use of Aadhar card for eKYC for compliance Defining security requirements at a high level so that policy emphasizes on outcomes than process Adopt global standards for hostspots

Meena Satish Rajvanshi Gargi Prasad Tarun Thank You Meena Satish Rajvanshi Gargi Prasad Tarun