WiFi INDIA - BRIDGING THE DIGITAL GAP

With about 500 million internet users and more added by the minute, Indians have demonstrated a voracious appetite for mobile smartphone apps and video streaming—all of which consume tremendous amounts of bandwidth. Additionally, the introduction of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) in the near future means huge amounts of data generated every second. Only steep acceleration of initiatives to drive the laying of optical fibre network, liberal licensing policies to create millions of public Wi-Fi hotspots, and improved satellite communications will help us compare favourably against China and other competing nations.

The government is working on a proposal that would benefit incumbent service providers and infrastructure firms to significantly increase fibre deployment that could facilitate Wi-Fi hotspots to enhance 4G coverage in India. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to provide access to optic fibre cable deployed under the ambitious Bharat-Net initiative to nearby telecom towers that would also eventually help in rolling out public Wi-Fi hotspots.

WiFi is at the core of Digital India initiative of the Government of India. Free Public hotspots can be a security hazard specially with the proliferation of Smart devices and confidential information residing on such smart devices. Challenges faced at the local level of Right of Way/ Licenses etc need to be sorted out in order to have a faster roll out of Public WiFi hotspots as well as increase Broadband penetration to the hinterland.

With this as the background Bharat Exhibitions is pleased to organize the WiFi India Summit 2019 on 6th February at Shangri-La, New Delhi. The objective of the summit is to highlight & discuss several technical and deployment related challenges that need to be addressed before such high speed connectivity can be provided ubiquitously through Wi-Fi hotspots. These challenges include authentication, security, coverage, network management, billing, and interoperability. The continuing rollout of hotspot deployment is being fuelled by the growing requirement for high-speed connectivity in public areas such as airports, shopping malls, conference venues, hotels, and so on. However, a successful and viable hotspot business model will depend on the extent that it can provide value for all its stakeholders – the end user, the network service provider, and the building and premise owners. In particular, for the end user to benefit, the system has to provide a mechanism that is easy to use, economically attractive, and provides fast access in a transparent, device independent, and access-technology independent manner.