With the launch of 5G networks in India, the total data consumption by the Indians will grow significantly. The date for the 5G spectrum auction has also been announced. To prepare for such a future, India needs a strong digital infrastructure. TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) chairman, P.D. Vaghela, said that Wi-Fi providers and the telecom service providers (TSPs) need to work together to unleash the combined power of Wi-Fi technology and mobile to improve the digital infrastructure.
5G Launch in Other Countries Spurred Data Consumption
Speaking at the Broadband India Forum (BIF), the TRAI chief said that working together would be a win-win situation for the telecom as well as Wi-Fi companies. Both the telcos and the Wi-Fi service providers need to work collaboratively to develop innovative business models, said Vaghela. According to a PTI report, Vaghela said that public Wi-Fi is going to benefit the country and its economy as those who are digitally excluded can have broadband connectivity access through Wi-Fi. The Indian government had set a target of setting up around 10 million public Wi-Fi hotspots by 2022. Vaghela said that India is very behind this target. There is definitely a big case for public Wi-Fi hotspots in India offering data for free to a certain extent and then charging a nominal amount of money from the users. This would ensure that even when the telcos keep hiking tariffs, low-earning consumers will have somewhere to look. 5G is around the corner, and the mobile tariffs are just not going to be the way they used to be two years back. With public Wi-Fi hotspots, consumers can save some money on mobile data bills and also offload some traffic from the mobile networks. One of the biggest issues that Indian consumers face right now is congested networks, and Wi-Fi hotspots can help with solving that issue in a big way.
