"WIFI INDIA - BRIDGING THE DIGITAL GAP"

Wi-Fi will continue to play a pivotal role in empowering businesses post-pandemic, enabling people to stay connected as capacity and connectivity needs of all expand. The world of Internet is changing day by day, many technologies are introduced or upgraded every day, Wi-Fi 6 is one of the newest technologies that were introduced to meet the demands of faster connections and reduce the anxiety that comes with trying to connect to the Internet while we are all cooped up at working from home. Since the organizations have embraced the idea of working from home and many organizations have introduced work from home policies. It is safe to say that the work from home culture is here to stay for long; hence, people should invest in the latest Wi-Fi technologies to boost their productivity in the long run. Wi-Fi 6 and 5G expand opportunities for digitisation across all industries and enables organisations to be just everywhere, while increasing productivity and offering the best user experience. There is a push from Indian authorities to use Wi-Fi to bridge the digital divide. The total broadband connections in India exceeded 800 million as per TRAI July report.

India has been recording a dramatic increase in data consumption over the past few years, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic has added to it. The demand for residential broadband has gone up because of a spike in working and schooling from home to maintain social distancing. Businesses are now forced to work online to ensure continuity, accelerating the digitization of small and midsized enterprises. In 2020, the Union Cabinet approved the Prime Minister's Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) with an aim to expand broadband internet proliferation in India. What is interesting to note is that, barely a year into this initiative, there are early signs to show its positive impact. Within nine months of the launch, close to 50,000 PM-WANI hotspots have already been deployed, with around two million hotspots to be set up soon. The initiative is expected to provide affordable access to unlimited high-speed internet to the next 500 million users in India. According to the popular think-tank, Broadband India Forum (BIF), PM-WANI will result in the creation of 20-30 million job opportunities in small and medium-sized firms.

Taking cue from the latest technologies emerging, Bharat Exhibitions is pleased to present its flagship event, the 3rd edition of WiFi India Virtual Summit 2022 on 22nd January at 1000 to 1300 Hrs (IST). 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.