Public Wi-Fi gets a push

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), through its 71st Amendment to the Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999, has ushered in a significant regulatory reform to facilitate the expansion of public Wi-Fi under the Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) framework. Issued on June 16, 2025, the amendment mandates that retail Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband service providers must offer all retail broadband plans up to 200 Mbps to Public Data Offices (PDOs) under the PM-WANI scheme at tariffs not exceeding twice the corresponding retail subscriber rates. This order comes in response to the limited proliferation of PM-WANI hotspots across India, despite high national targets for public Wi-Fi deployment under the National Digital Communications