Public Wi-Fi has emerged as an essential component in the development of smart cities across the globe. This technology not only facilitates traffic management, but also helps meet the capacity demand for rising data traffic. Shrikant Shenwai, chief executive officer, Wireless Broadband Alliance shares his views on the development and deployment of public Wi-Fi, both globally and in India…

What are the key operations of Wireless Broadband Alliance in India? What have been the key achievements?

Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) has just commenced its engagements with India. The WBA vision forum that was conducted in August 2015 was one of the first steps that WBA took to engage with the stakeholders within the country. The response in India has been phenomenally positive. Meanwhile, some of the Indian operators like Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited and Ozone have been members of WBA for quite some time.

What is the role of public Wi-Fi in setting up smart cities?

A smart city requires extensive connectivity which can be achieved through a mix of licensed and unlicensed as well as fixed and wireless technologies. Wi-Fi is clearly one major wireless and unlicensed technology that is both cost effective as well as easy to deploy and use. Most of the cities that have been shortlisted for the smart cities programme have already started integrating Wi-Fi as part of their modernisation strategy. Given the fact that a large population knows how to use this technology and plethora of devices are available that are Wi-Fi enabled, deployment of Wi-Fi has become a very important element of connectivity infrastructure for any smart city.

What is the business case and scope for public Wi-Fi services in India? What are various channels through which it can be delivered?

Wi-Fi offloading is the standard business case that is being practised by the operators across the world. Wi-Fi offloading provides a mechanism to decongest the networks in high data traffic areas. This model could work quite well in India as well, especially amidst the increased challenges related to network capacity and the growing instances of call drops in the country.

The other model that has worked quite well in many markets and could be successful in India too is that of providing white label services. Under this, one of the service providers sets up a network which is then made available to other operators or organizations that would like to use that network on a white label basis. For example, Starbucks in US has been using network deployed by AT&T and Google for the provision of Wi-Fi services. This model is very popular in high-density venues of different types such as malls and restaurants. This represents a good business opportunity for operators like Ozone where they can become the neutral host and provide the services on a white label basis to others who wish to use that network for their customers or subscribers.

There are monetisation models also which involve use of Wi-Fi for provision of location-based services and for advertising. For instance, before accessing a free network, a user may be required to watch a sponsor’s advertisement. Thus, there are several models that are operational. However, given the unique market that India is, I think that some new innovative business cases or use cases may emerge for the provision of Wi-Fi services.

What are the key issues and challenges faced by operators in setting up public Wi-Fi hotspots?

Identification of Wi-Fi networks and typing-in user IDs and passwords is one of the major challenges which the consumers face. WBA is trying to address this issue through the Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) programme which aims at delivering a public Wi-Fi experience that is as seamless and secure as that experienced on cellular networks. Under NGH, the device is able to automatically connect to the network to which it is entitled to by making use of credentials like SIM cards. Further, the NGH programme will also support roaming across different types of Wi-Fi networks and Wi-Fi service providers.

The legacy challenges which the operators across the world have faced would, however, be much less in India. This is because of the fact that India will witness greenfield deployment of Wi-Fi services with around 3,000 hotspots compared to 50 million worldwide. So, the new hotspots that would be deployed would be based on NGH technology.

The other challenge relates to the transfer of data traffic from the wireless network to the fixed line.  To overcome the same, the operators will have to develop their own backend network to carry their traffic or partner with other operators who have that kind of network.

Further, the flexibility of deploying Wi-Fi given the fact that anybody can deploy it, at times create a dynamic sphere. In this regard, the operators who do not have a clear long-term strategy or are not sure about which business model to undertake may face problems in the future. Having a long-term strategy not only provides benefits in the form of high returns on investment, but also in terms of high customer retention.

What is your view on the policy environment for the development of Wi-Fi services in India?

Any country that wants to exploit the benefits of a large-scale availability of Wi-Fi services needs to address the issue of digital divide. Further, the government needs to ensure that there are no barriers on how consumers or users consume Wi-Fi. For instance, making the operators validate customer credentials using complicated validation techniques can be challenging.

What have been the key success stories of public Wi-Fi across the globe? What lessons can India draw from such experiences?

Many operators like China mobile, British Telecom and TTSL, which are also the members of WBA have used Wi-Fi in different ways based on their market dynamics.

For instance, the model used by British Telecom (BT) is that of a ‘home hotspot’. In this model, the home Wi-Fi of a user also acts as a sort of a public Wi-Fi hotspot. This public Wi-Fi can be accessed by any BT customer who is in that locality. This also helps BT to improve its consumer retention.

One of the initiatives that WBA has recently undertaken is the launch of a connected city advisory board. This provides a platform to the policy-makers from different cities to come together and share their experiences regarding the various models of Wi-Fi that they have deployed or are planning to do so in their cities.

Going forward how is this market likely to develop in India in the next two-three years?

Under the government’s ambitious programme of building 100 smart cities, a lot of impetus will be given to increase the deployment of Wi-Fi in the country. Apart from internet for people, internet of things (IoT) will assume great significance in the coming years. The issues of waste management, sustainable energy, parking, traffic, security, surveillance etc. could be addressed effectively by harnessing the benefits of Wi-Fi services. India is still in a greenfield phase of deployment of these services and there are huge opportunities in this area for the companies and the society as a whole.