Centre's public WiFi scheme faces adoption hesitancy: Report

Lack of interest due to low financial incentives and slow transition by BSNL and the Railways has impeded adoption

Nearly two years after its launch in December 2020, the Centre's public WiFi scheme has seen 1,32,000 hotspots activated, but hesitancy in adopting the scheme stemming from lack of interest due to low financial incentives, is hampering further adoption.

The Centre has plans to install 1 crore hotspots across the country under the Prime Minister’s WiFi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme, but the sluggish pace of migrating WiFi hotspots to the network by state-run entities such as Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and the Indian Railways, has also impeded progress, Business Standard reported, citing officials aware of the situation.

According to the PM-WANI dashboard, currently, 1,32,518 hotspots are active across the country, with the highest number being 34,698 in the region surrounding Delhi, with the region in and around Karnataka coming in second with 19,000 hotspots.

“As is often the case, schemes with a rural slant take more time. Local populations need to be convinced to adapt to new technical models. We have received reports of many rural participants complaining about financial incentives remaining undersized. We are looking into it,” a senior DoT official told the publication.

Earlier this year, officials had emphasised that BSNL would be migrating 30,000 of its hotspots to PM-WANI by June, the report said, but according to sources, the exercise has taken much longer than expected.

For adopting the PM-WANI framework, BSNL registered itself as a public data office aggregator, while also integrating its core equipment with the technical systems of the Centre for Development of Telematics.

“BSNL’s foray into the scheme is expected to boost the telecom service provider’s chances of reaching a wider customer base. It will also help it leapfrog over the three private TSPs, in terms of establishing digital networks in the rural hinterland. But movement on the issue has been slower than planned,” the DoT official added.

The government had bet on the scheme after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had pointed out that public hotspots held an important place in the last-mile delivery of broadband to users.

“PM-WANI will be the ultimate example of the ease of doing business in a sector where bureaucracy and high licences/fees have held back new entrants. It is now easy for even a chaiwallah to register online as a service provider, opening up new income avenues,” an official said.