New Delhi, May 27 (AHN) Telecom industry body Broadband India Forum (BIF) on Wednesday hailed the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) two important notifications aimed at further strengthening the PM-WANI based Public Wi-Fi ecosystem.

The notifications are extremely significant in the overall push both from the government and by the regulator to promote PM-WANI based Public Wi-Fi ubiquitously across the country.

PM-WANI is a unique flagship initiative of the government to provide affordable, high-speed public broadband internet.

“These timely, pragmatic and consumer-centric measures will further accelerate India’s digital inclusion and public broadband objective” said T.V. Ramachandran, President, BIF.

He added that “Public Wi-Fi can't scale on monthly plans alone. Bite-sized, affordable access packs will directly boost hotspot utilisation and unlock additional revenues for PDOs and PDOAs, especially in high-footfall and underserved areas, thereby improving their business case.”

First notification is advice to PDOs and PDOAs to introduce short-duration data plans (sachets) under the PM-WANI framework, which would cater to users requiring brief internet access, such as travellers, students and daily commuters, visitors in a mall/shop and other small-time users.

If adopted, this will enable improved adoption and monetisation of PM-WANI hotspots, said BIF in a statement.

The other notification amends the Guidelines of WANI framework, bringing QR-based authentication for secondary devices like laptops and tablets, letting users securely piggyback on their already-authenticated smartphones.

This would enable users to securely authenticate secondary devices. It would also improve interoperability, ease of access, and security within the PM-WANI ecosystem.

The notification further standardises SSID nomenclature across PM-WANI hotspots to ensure that all such hotspots now feature standardized "PM-WANI" branding for easy network identification, said the BIF.

“These moves are true to PM-WANI's original DNA — a light-touch, innovation-first framework open to MSMEs, VLEs, startups, kirana stores, and local businesses. PM-WANI is one of India’s most important digital inclusion initiatives, with the potential to become the DPI of the connectivity layer, alongside fibre, mobile, satellite and other tech,” said Ramachandran.