Trai invites firms to be part of paid public wi-fi interface

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Telecom regulator Trai today invited interest from firms to set up on a pilot basis public wi-fi hotspots that will be available for public at a starting price of Rs 2. The public wi-fi hotspots are proposed to be set up on the lines of yesteryear’s PCOs that were used for making phone calls by public on paid basis.

“Trai invites all interested entities to be a part of a pilot to establish nationwide, pay-as-you-go PDOs (Public Data Offices)… . The products available for consumption should begin from ‘sachet-sized’, i.e. low denominations ranging from Rs 2 to Rs 20, etc,” Trai said in a statement.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in March had recommended lowering of import duty on wi fi equipment and mooted the concept of ‘public data offices’ and ‘aggregators’ for providing public wi fi services at cheaper rates.

“In India, access to data is still limited due to poor coverage of fibre or telecom and prohibitive pricing of cellular data. Public wi-fi hotspots hold an important place in the last-mile delivery of broadband to users. It allows offloading telecom networks to ease congestion,” Trai said.