The public Wi-Fi ecosystem in the country is undergoing a rapid change. This is being driven mainly by the need to explore ways and means to manage exploding data traffic on already congested networks. Sanjeev Sarin, chief executive officer, Ozone Network shares his views on the evolution of public Wi-Fi, both globally and in India…

What is the business case and scope for public Wi-Fi services in India?

Broadband penetration in India is less than 6 per cent. However, India set to become the largest Wi-Fi player, in particular, the largest broadband hotspot player in the world. This is because the Indian telecom industry faces lack of infrastructure and spectrum. These issues are not likely to be resolved in the next few years. This will lead to about 700-900 million people having limited means to connect to the internet in the coming decade. One of the best provisions for connecting the vast population to the internet is through a public hotspot, such as ours. The biggest opportunity for a Wi-Fi operator is to provide for data offload for major operators. This is going to be a huge opportunity because of the scarcity of spectrum in the country. While operators have invested heavily in building telecom infrastructure, the scarcity of spectrum threatens to clog these networks as the number of subscribers increase.

What business model are you deploying to deliver Wi-Fi services?

Our business model is quite simple. For instance, when we choose to partner with Barista Coffee, we will first sign a nation-wide contract with the company. This will be followed by a site survey at every location and the estimation for the amount of equipment required at each location. The required equipment will then be installed at the locations. We then order a broadband connection and connect the locations to our network. We operate the network for the duration of the contract and also monetise that particular location with our partners. We are also looking to partner with cellular network operators and are in discussion with five operators though none of them has been signed as yet. It shows that operators are very keen to look at Wi-Fi.

How has been the public response towards such Wi-Fi services?

Over the last 8 months the traffic on our network has more than doubled, going up by 247 per cent during the period. Consumer response has been exceptionally positive. For instance, at the Mumbai Airport records a footfall of about 90,000-100,000 people a day. Of the total footfall, on an average about 22,000-25,000 consumers connect to our network per day. This is a huge percentage compared to the other airports in the world. Our hotspot is witnessing utilisation wherever it has been deployed. This is giving us more confidence to rollout Wi-Fi at greater number of public locations.

 What are the current challenges faced by the company in public wi-fi hotspots? What steps is the company taking to overcome them?

The biggest challenge is how to make money out of every consumer that comes on the network. The other big challenge is getting broadband connectivity given the lack of infrastructure. Not many operators want to invest in such infrastructure owing to lack of early returns on investments. Further, generating awareness about the presence of such a service is also a challenge.

In case of telecom, when a consumer dials a number, 99.9 per cent of the time one can connect to the network and avail the service. However, a consumer does not enter a shop thinking that there will be Wi-Fi facility. If there is no awareness at the location, then it becomes challenging to ensure utilisation of our network.  Since we are neutral Wi-Fi operator, it gives us a lot more leverage. Also, we are putting up signage at every location to build consumer awareness.

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

The policies are simple and straightforward. Wi-Fi sits in an unlicensed band all over the world and so is the case with India. From that standpoint, the government has been very supportive of allowing the unlicensed players like us to operate. The additional policy restrictions or provisions that have been put in by the government of India, however, make things complex.

For instance, in the UK or the US, for connecting to a public Wi-Fi a consumer simply accepts certain terms and conditions and connects to the network. In India, the government enforces the license holders, where we are category A internet service provider, to know its customers. Ozone does a simple check when a consumer connects to our network. The consumer is asked to enter his or her mobile number on which we send a one-time password (OTP). Upon entering the OTP, the consumer can connect to our network. So, effectively, we are monitoring what people are doing at the public locations just in case the law enforcement agencies ask us for the data. This is the difference between policies in India and policies in the West.

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

The most successful model of public Wi-Fi, probably, is in the UK by a company called The Cloud Networks. The company built a neutral Wi-Fi model by deploying hotspots all over Europe and leasing them back to the operators. It is like a cellular tower business whereby most of the cellular operators have sold off their towers. The same concept was applied to the Wi-Fi hotspot business at highly populated locations. The company also built the City of London Wi-Fi. A consumer could start off a video Skype call from one end of the city and drive to the other end, without the Skype call dropping. There are several reasons why this is a successful model. One, it was built using the latest of technologies. Two, the company was able to make money out of the Wi-Fi network which is a key condition and is a struggle in India. Third, it offered good consumer experience.

The surge in demand for data presents a potent opportunity. A lot of people do not download content over cellular today because cellular network is expensive. We have developed a product with a company called Speed Fetch which allows users to download video content through Wi-Fi hotspots for free. The market needs innovative solutions that can deliver entertainment to the masses without any broadband cost. When there is no challenging broadband cost, the market will change in terms of adopting services like Wi-Fi and internet.

Going forward, what are the company’s expansion plans for the next two-three years? How are you likely to finance them?

In the last year, the company has accelerated its business. We were awarded the Frost and Sullivan award for number one operator of public Wi-Fi operator in the country. We have doubled the number of locations where we have deployed our hotspot. The number of people signing up to Ozone and using the network has gone up by 250 per cent. Also, once people connect to Ozone’s network, there is about 60 per cent repeat usage, which is one of the highest in the world today. The average time of usage has gone up from 30 minutes to 42 minutes and an average session has gone up from 25 MB data usage to around 50 MB of usage. This shows that once people are on the network, they tend to do heavy data activity, especially video.

The company has very aggressive expansion plans. Presently, we have already deployed Wi-Fi at 6,500 private and public locations and we plan to increase this to 30,000 by end-2016. By 2020, we want to get to half a million. Ozone is fully funded to execute these plans.