Presentation On Liberalisation of Public Wifi Hotspot Infrastructure

1. NTP-2018 : Inputs from BIF Presentation On Liberalisation of Public Wifi Hotspot Infrastructure Meeting 4 ( 2nd November )

2. ANCHOR PRINCIPLE-ONE Liberalisation of the Public Wifi Hostpot Model

3. Broadband in India • Broadband subscribers ( TRAI Report June’17 ): 300 Mn • Broadband penetration : 300/1250 =< 25% • Total Wireless Subscribers =282Mn • Total Wireline Subscribers=18Mn • However BB is defined at speeds in excess of 512kbps • If one was to filter out the number of subscribers who are at 2Mbps , then the number of actual BB subscribers would be perhaps at around 100Mn ( 1/3rd ) To achieve Digital India, we need to rapidly make Broadband available everywhere

4. Benefits of Public Wifi • Data offload for 4G & 5G networks • This enables users of high capacity data services to download high volumes of data at an affordable cost as compared to Mobile Broadband data • Network speeds in Wifi coverage areas improve as compared to Mobile Data

5. Public Wifi Hotspot Scenario in India • Total Number of Wifi Hotspots as on Dec’2016 : ~31, 500 • We represent a sixth of the World’s Population • However our share of global hotspots is < 1 in 1000 • Globally there will be 340 Mn hotspots by 2018 which will mean 1 hotspot for every 20 persons. For India to reach the current global average of 1 in 150, 8 Mn additional hotspots would be required

6. What can be done for increasing Public Wifi hotspots Existing Wifi band is already congested Additional unlicensed spectrum bands need to be released BIF has requested for release of additional 5Ghz bands and V band Permission to provide Public Wifi services with a ‘ mere registration’ and without any license Seamless Roaming across networks Simplification of KYC & authentication mechanisms Unlicensed Spectrum Light Touch/Registration Bandwidth resale needs to be permitted

7. BIF Aggregator Model Wi-Fi aggregator would do the following: - homogenize a set of heterogeneous hotspot networks and help operate these hotspots for hotspot owners - provide cloud services to enable business models and service operations as a service to the hotspot owner - provide end user onboarding services including authentication, authorization & accounting to the hotspot owner - offer traffic management services to the hotspot owners

8. BIF Aggregator Model Aggregation model, wherein a neutral entity partners with various players like Wi-Fi providers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), TSPs (Telecom Service Providers), payment providers, venues, others to enable Wi-Fi services. In this model the aggregator drives service integration across the value chain - collaborating with ISPs, TSPs, payment providers and venues. There could be multiple aggregators driving competition. The aggregator would use authentication mechanisms and payment solutions which are in compliance with the government regulations. BIF Agrees with TRAI Recommendations on Public Wifi

9. CONCLUSION/SUMMARY BIF is of the opinion that there is merit to recommend this category of Wi-Fi Aggregators to be permitted under simple ' online Registration', as this would give a big impetus to the penetration of broadband across the country. Reselling of bandwidth provided over unlicensed spectrum is also an activity that needs to be permitted for such entities which can help in further proliferation of broadband penetration.

10. Thank You