<p>The department of telecommunications (DoT) on Monday issued guidelines for Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) project, saying that any entity can become a public Wi-Fi hotspot to provide internet services to consumers.</p>.<p>As per guidelines, restaurants, tea stalls, hotels, grocery stores, and other places can become Wi-Fi access points without registration with the DoT and use bandwidth procured from service providers.</p>.<p>“The backhaul requirement for these Wi-Fi access points will be met by procuring internet bandwidth from the telecom service providers/internet service providers," said the DoT.</p>.<p>Internet Service Providers, and companies like Google and Facebook can start registration and can offer WiFi hotspot services, said an official in the statement.</p>.<p>Last week, the Union Cabinet approved PM-WANI project, aimed at proliferation of broadband connectivity in the country.</p>.<p>The cabinet approved the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended aggregator-model paving the way for new categories of public data offices (PDOs), public data office aggregators (PDOAs) and app providers to deliver public WiFi services without a licence.</p>.<p>Any company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 can become a PDOA with DoT’s certification and free of cost. The DoT will approve the registration within seven days. A PDOA will be an aggregator of PDOs to oversee authorisation and accounting of Wi-Fi connections, the DoT said. The process of registration as an app developer will be the same, says the guidelines.</p>.<p>An app developer will build a platform to register users and discover Wani-compliant Wi-Fi hotspots in an area and display them on the app, says the guidelines.</p>.<p>The government hoping that the scheme will promote growth of public Wi-Fi networks in the country.</p>.<p>At present the country has around one lakh WiFi hotspots against the targets of 5 million by 2020 and 10 million by 2022 set by National Digital Communications Policy, 2018.</p>
<p>The department of telecommunications (DoT) on Monday issued guidelines for Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) project, saying that any entity can become a public Wi-Fi hotspot to provide internet services to consumers.</p>.<p>As per guidelines, restaurants, tea stalls, hotels, grocery stores, and other places can become Wi-Fi access points without registration with the DoT and use bandwidth procured from service providers.</p>.<p>“The backhaul requirement for these Wi-Fi access points will be met by procuring internet bandwidth from the telecom service providers/internet service providers," said the DoT.</p>.<p>Internet Service Providers, and companies like Google and Facebook can start registration and can offer WiFi hotspot services, said an official in the statement.</p>.<p>Last week, the Union Cabinet approved PM-WANI project, aimed at proliferation of broadband connectivity in the country.</p>.<p>The cabinet approved the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended aggregator-model paving the way for new categories of public data offices (PDOs), public data office aggregators (PDOAs) and app providers to deliver public WiFi services without a licence.</p>.<p>Any company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 can become a PDOA with DoT’s certification and free of cost. The DoT will approve the registration within seven days. A PDOA will be an aggregator of PDOs to oversee authorisation and accounting of Wi-Fi connections, the DoT said. The process of registration as an app developer will be the same, says the guidelines.</p>.<p>An app developer will build a platform to register users and discover Wani-compliant Wi-Fi hotspots in an area and display them on the app, says the guidelines.</p>.<p>The government hoping that the scheme will promote growth of public Wi-Fi networks in the country.</p>.<p>At present the country has around one lakh WiFi hotspots against the targets of 5 million by 2020 and 10 million by 2022 set by National Digital Communications Policy, 2018.</p>
