TRAI proposes new Wi-Fi grid to bring down cost of internet by 90 per cent

NEW DELHI:  Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday submitted a proposal of open-architecture based Wi-Fi grid to bring down the cost of internet by 90 per cent, to telecom minister Manoj Sinha.

TRAI chairman RS Sharma said the proposed open-architecture will bring down data prices to one-tenth of the current level. According to TRAI, the products available for consumption should begin from ‘sachet sized’ — at a price as low as `2.

TRAI said that the availability of broadband services at a very low cost is the basic requirement of the ‘Digital India’ and recommended that any entity - company, proprietorship, societies etc should easily be able to set up a public Wi-Fi access point. “There are limitations in internet services in the country as there are only wireless networks and no wired connectivity, hence WiFi is the cheapest possible mode of internet,” Sharma said.

Under the system, authentication of the service provider and service seekers, along with accounting and payment settlement, would be done through cloud services. Also, users would be able to easily use the system, do one click authentication and payment, and connect one or more devices in single session.

The telecom regulator said that a number of entities — public data offices (PDO), app providers and software/hardware service providers — had participated in its project to establish the proposed open architecture based Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (WANI) and to test the specifications in real life conditions, and suggest improvements. The telecom minister said the government and the regulator would discuss on the model presented, and look forward on the modalities of implementing it in the days ahead.