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

2. 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
Rural – 12.98
Data Usage per subscriber per month – Total(GSM+CDMA) – 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

3. 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 – GHz band is allowed for outdoor deployment, and the spectrum bands GHz and – 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.

4. 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 MHz, 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

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