Public Wi-Fi

Telecom operators and technology companies have renewed their long-running battle over the future of the broadband architecture, with telecom service providers arguing that public Wi-Fi has limited commercial relevance in a mobile-first market, while the Broadband India Forum (BIF) has urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to recognise it as a critical complementary layer of national broadband infrastructure.

In submissions to Trai’s consultation paper on the proliferation of public Wi-Fi networks, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi) said weak consumer demand, poor monetisation prospects and market realities – not licensing barriers or regulatory constraints – have limited the success of the PM-WANI framework.