New Delhi: Wi-Fi penetration in India continues to lag behind despite various efforts by the government and telecom operators, a senior official in the Department of Science and Technology said on Thursday.
While speaking at a Broadband India Forum (BIF) event on World Wifi Day, Department of Science and Technology (DST) Secretary Abhay Karandikar said that the absence of ubiquitous backend telecom infrastructure is restricting the growth of Wi-Fi penetration in India despite advancements in technology and spectrum availability.
"WiFi is key to providing affordable connectivity and in India we still lag behind in public Wi-Fi penetration significantly despite various efforts by the government and operators," he said.
Karandikar said that with mobile services like 5G and 6G moving to higher frequency bands, it is becoming difficult to provide networks inside buildings where Wi-Fi can play an important role.
According to data from the Department of Telecommunications, there are around 2 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots deployed under the government's PM WANI project.
The PM WANI project aims to enhance the proliferation of public WiFi hotspots to create a robust digital communications infrastructure in the country.
Karandikar said Railtel can play an important role in the proliferation of Wi-Fi.
"Wifi can provide solutions for in-house solutions where connectivity through mobile devices cannot reach. There is a need to have an integrated controller at the operator's end that can truly provide seamless handover of mobile broadband like 5G to Wi-Fi," he said. .
At the event, the president of the BIF digital think tank, TV Ramachandran, mentioned that the industry estimates that the average consumption per fixed connection per month can increase up to 600-700 GB and that Wi-Fi is needed to support these consumption levels. .
Bluetown India CEO (CMD) SN Gupta said India has half a million Wi-Fi hotspots, while as per the global average, there should be 1 crore Wi-Fi hotspots.
He said the government has set a target of having 5 crore Wi-Fi hotspots and there is a long way to go to achieve that target.
"One of the industry's biggest requests is for telecom operators and Internet service providers to cost-effectively provide backhaul where government and regulatory intervention is required," Gupta said.
While speaking at a Broadband India Forum (BIF) event on World Wifi Day, Department of Science and Technology (DST) Secretary Abhay Karandikar said that the absence of ubiquitous backend telecom infrastructure is restricting the growth of Wi-Fi penetration in India despite advancements in technology and spectrum availability.
"WiFi is key to providing affordable connectivity and in India we still lag behind in public Wi-Fi penetration significantly despite various efforts by the government and operators," he said.
Karandikar said that with mobile services like 5G and 6G moving to higher frequency bands, it is becoming difficult to provide networks inside buildings where Wi-Fi can play an important role.
According to data from the Department of Telecommunications, there are around 2 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots deployed under the government's PM WANI project.
The PM WANI project aims to enhance the proliferation of public WiFi hotspots to create a robust digital communications infrastructure in the country.
Karandikar said Railtel can play an important role in the proliferation of Wi-Fi.
"Wifi can provide solutions for in-house solutions where connectivity through mobile devices cannot reach. There is a need to have an integrated controller at the operator's end that can truly provide seamless handover of mobile broadband like 5G to Wi-Fi," he said. .
At the event, the president of the BIF digital think tank, TV Ramachandran, mentioned that the industry estimates that the average consumption per fixed connection per month can increase up to 600-700 GB and that Wi-Fi is needed to support these consumption levels. .
Bluetown India CEO (CMD) SN Gupta said India has half a million Wi-Fi hotspots, while as per the global average, there should be 1 crore Wi-Fi hotspots.
He said the government has set a target of having 5 crore Wi-Fi hotspots and there is a long way to go to achieve that target.
"One of the industry's biggest requests is for telecom operators and Internet service providers to cost-effectively provide backhaul where government and regulatory intervention is required," Gupta said.
