India’s telecom regulator wants to provide wi-fi hotspots, internet at 2 paise to public. This is what it is planning

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is exploring different plans to provide high-speed internet to the public. It also wants to deploy wi-fi hotspots across the country for the common man.

In this regard, the TRAI is planning to allow individuals, entrepreneurs and content and application providers to offer affordable and high-speed internet to the public.

This will boost its plan to provide wi-fi across country and lessening the burden on the telecom players.

"We see mass-scale Wi-Fi deployment as a means to democratise the penetration of affordable good-speed internet across urban cities and rural areas," top officials at Trai told TOI.

The plan is to provide internet for 2 paise per MB against the existing rates of around 10 paise in the mobile telecom market.

"The recommendations will be sent to the telecom ministry very soon for necessary changes in the licensing and other rules," one source told TOI.

The telecom regulator wants people to get easy access to the internet at low cost by bringing in intermediaries.

TRAI has maintained wi-fi technology holds much promise for a country like India which wants to achieve universal access to information and communication technologies for its population, both in densely-populated urban areas as well as remote rural areas, where the telephone or cable infrastructure are not yet fully deployed.

An official told TOI the costs of setting up Wi-Fi infrastructure are lower when compared to mobile broadband networks like 2G, 3G and 4G as the technology utilizes unlicensed spectrum and equipment is cheaper and more readily available. Also, its maintenance and operational costs are significantly lower.

"For India to reach a goal of one hotspot for every 150 people (current global average), 8 lakh additional hotspots will have to be installed," Trai said.