Chennai: With smartphones making it to every nook and corner of the country, the government is now reportedly planning to allow interoperability of public WiFi.
If implemented, users would be able to login into the facility once and stay connected with the wireless internet service across the country without any need for refilling entire details again on their mobile devices.
“Interoperability of public WiFi is under consideration. This will enable a user to stay connected with all public WiFi across the country when they come within its range. A mobile device user have to login once, and other WiFi networks, be it of BSNL, Airtel, Jio, etc, will recognise the device and connect it to the network,” an official source told PTI.
The source said Inter-Ministerial panel Digital Communications Commission (DCC) may consider the proposal in its next meeting. The DCC meeting was earlier scheduled for today, which has now been deferred.
Under the National Digital Communications Policy 2018, the government has targeted to enable deployment of five million public WiFi hotspots by 2020 and 10 million by 2022.
Under the current rules, a mobile device user is required to fill form and enter the one-time password (OTP) sent on his mobile number to connect to a public WiFi. Sometimes, users do not get OTP on their mobile device and, hence, fail to connect with the service.
“The focus of the government is to provide digital governance and encourage data innovation. Interoperable WiFi will help mobile users travel across the country with data connectivity. This will also take away load from licence spectrum and help improve in call drops,” the source said.
The DCC is also likely to take up a cumulative penalty of Rs 3,050 crore proposed on Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea on the complaint of Reliance Jio.
Amid a financial stress in the sector, the DCC has sought the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to review the penalty amount. However, the regulator is learnt to have not made any change in the penal amount.
| Railways lead the way |
| The total number of user logins at WiFi-enabled stations numbering 1,606, was 2.35 crore in May, in the country.
“The numbers speak volumes about the fact that despite having easy access to mobile internet, public WiFi is still the preferred choice of rail users at railway stations… now the WiFi service will be extended to another 4,791 stations within this year which will enable every station of Indian Railways [except the halt stations] to have a WiFi hotspot,” RailTel said in a statement. With unconstrained, free high-speed WiFi connectivity, an average user consumes 343 MB in an average 30 minute data session, much higher than an average 3G connection in the country which currently consumes around 30 MB per user per day, the statement said. The facility of free internet would be extended to the remaining 4,791 stations within this year, it had said. |