Wi-Fi penetration in India still lagging despite govt, telcos’ efforts

India’s Wi-Fi continues to fall behind despite many efforts made by the government and telecom operators, a top official of the Department of Science and Technology said on Thursday.

While speaking at a Broadband India Forum event on World Wi-Fi Day, the Department of Science and Technology Secretary Abhay Karandikar said the absence of a universal backend telecom infrastructure is impeding the growth of Wi-Fi penetration in India, despite advancements in the technology and availability of spectrum.

“Wi-Fi is a key to providing affordable connectivity and in India we still continue to lag behind in public Wi-Fi penetration in a significant manner despite several efforts made by the government and the operators,” he said.

Karandikar said that with mobile services like 5G, 6G moving to higher frequency bands, it is becoming difficult to provide networks inside buildings where Wi-Fi can play an important role.

According to the Department of Telecom data, there are about 2 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots deployed under the government’s PM WANI project.

The PM WANI (Wi-Fi Access Network Interface) project aims to enhance the proliferation of public Wi-Fi hotspots to create a strong digital communications infrastructure in the country.

Karandikar said that Railtel can play a significant role in the proliferation of Wi-Fi.

“There is a requirement to have an integrated controller at the operator’s end, which can actually provide seamless hand-off from mobile broadband like 5G to Wi-Fi,” he said.

At the event, digital subject think tank BIF President TV Ramachandran said that the industry estimates average consumption per fixed connection per month to zoom up to 600-700 GB and Wi-Fi is necessary to support those levels of consumption.

Bluetown India Pvt. Executive Chairman SN Gupta said that while India has half a million Wi-Fi hotspots, according to the world average there should be 1 crore Wi-Fi hotspots.

He said that the government has set a target of 5 crore Wi-Fi hotspots and has a long way to go to achieve that.

“One of the biggest asks of the industry is that telecom operators and internet service providers should provide backhaul in a cost-effective manner where government and regulator’s intervention is required,” Gupta said. PTI