Context: Recently, the Union Cabinet cleared a proposal by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to set up public Wi-Fi access network interfaces.

• The public Wi-Fi Access Network Interface, which will be called ‘PM-WANI’, was first recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in 2017.
• This is essentially a nationwide network of public Wi-Fi hotspots, termed Public Data Offices (PDOs), to set up a nationwide network of landline public pay-phones.

What is Public Wi-Fi?

• Public Wi-Fi can be found in popular public places like airports, coffee shops, malls, restaurants, and hotels.
• It allows to access the Internet for free.
• These Hotspots are so widespread and common that people frequently connect to them.
• In India, the public Wi-Fi will be rolled out as part of the Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM- WANI).

Why is a public Wi-Fi network needed in India?

• To increase the proliferation of internet services in the country.

Aimed at

• Last mile connectivity, with PDOs.
• Several telecom sector experts have pointed that even in urban areas with sufficient mobile data coverage, the mobile internet tariffs are bound to increase.
• This presents a stronger business case for the public Wi-Fi network.

Global examples of a public Wi-Fi network

• In most European countries and some southeast Asian countries, the concept is that of a decentralised network,
• There shops, restaurants and cafes, public transport facilities have rolled out wireless internet on their own.

Scope of Public Wi-Fi

• According to Cisco Annual Internet Report (2018-2023), there will be nearly 623 million public Wi-Fi hotspots across the world by 2023, up from 169 million hotspots as of 2018.
• Within this, the highest share of hotspots by 2023 will be in the Asia Pacific region at 46%.
• As per the calculations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), based on Cisco’s estimates, India should have 100 million Wi-Fi hotspots by 2023.

How is India’s public Wi-Fi network envisaged?

• PDO will establish, maintain, and operate compliant Wi-Fi access points, or routers, and deliver broadband services to subscribers.
• Over a segment of PDOs, will be a PDO Aggregator (PDOA).
• This aggregator will perform the functions relating to authorisation and accounting.
• There will be an app provider that will develop the app for users to register on to the network, make payments to subscribe to the network and discover nearby hotspots.
• There will be the central registry maintained by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT).
• In this registry, C-DoT will maintain the details of app providers, PDOAs, and PDOs.

Potential pitfalls of a public Wi-Fi network

• Wi-Fi hotspots in coffee shops, libraries, airports, hotels, universities, and other public places are convenient but not secure.
• Most Wi-Fi hotspots don’t encrypt information that is sent over the Internet.
• This could potentially lead to hacking or unapproved access to personal information on the device.
• Online Banking Credentials, Bitcoin Wallet and other valuable data can be at potential risk from Cyber attackers.
• The Indian public Wi-Fi hotspot network envisages that the access to the Internet through these points will be permitted only through electronic KYC and a mix of OTP and Media Access Control (MAC) ID-based authentication system, thereby minimising the risk of network security being compromised.