Look Ma, Now India Has No Wires

The Wi-fi revolution is becoming mainstream across public places in India

Wi-Fi enabled devices (laptops or PDAs) can send and receive data wirelessly from any location equipped with Wi-Fi access. How? Access points, installed within a Wi-Fi location, transmit an RF signal to Wi-Fi enabled devices that are within range of the access point, which is about 300 feet. The speed of the transmission is governed by the speed of the pipeline fed into the access point. T-Mobile HotSpot service is unique in that every T-Mobile HotSpot service location is equipped with a full T-1 connection running to the access points.

With T-Mobile HotSpot service, a customer, once associated with the access point, can connect to the Internet and enjoy near T-1 speeds in the comfort of American Airlines Admirals Clubs, Starbucks coffeehouses, Borders Books & Music stores and numerous airports.

Need for connectivity

First, BYOD revolution is gathering momentum and fast. Today employees use two to three devices in their offices, not to mention that employee’s not just access files or view emails but also access bandwidth intensive applications like You Tube etc. Poor speed connectivity has proved to drop employee efficiency by almost a third.

Second, while most organization, public areas have networked the computers within any given facility but which is being replaced by hand computing and hence there is dire need to connect buildings and campuses within a city or region. It makes no sense to have instant access to information within a building but to end that free flow of information at the building walls. High-speed data connections allow all departments and groups, regardless of physical location, to share information in real time.

Third, video conferencing, education is gaining support. “Virtual meetings” allow more team members to interact while minimizing time away from the office. Efficiency is maximized. The connection option that makes this possible and affordable across campuses and metro areas is often a point-to-point broadband wireless link.

Fourth, Internet traffic has increased exponentially. Customers routinely use web browsers and web-based communication, creating considerable traffic. Email with large presentations and files clogs small pipe connections. Files of all types are increasing in size to the point that sending and receiving data over a slow connection is simply too time consuming. Business decisions can’t be put on hold while data is being transferred over low capacity lines.

Finally, providing a redundant connection to protect the network against disasters is another important application that requires high-speed connectivity to function reliably and efficiently.

Wi-fi gaining popularity

Wi-fi in public areas, organizations, intuitions makes us feel satisfied to stay connected with our work, colleagues, family, friends and world. Wi-Fi (short for “wireless fidelity”) is the popular term for a high-frequency wireless local area network (WLAN). This technology is rapidly gaining acceptance in many companies as an alternative to a wired LAN. It can also be installed for a home network. It operates at range offering data speeds up to 11 megabits per second. The modulation used in 802.11 has historically been phase-shift keying (PSK).

Intelligent processing and awareness tools are providing sense-making capabilities, augmenting our ability to easily interpret data, and making information more accessible. These capabilities will allow a more frictionless relationship between us, our objects and environments.  At the same time, we’re still in the formative stages of the connected era, and companies are trying to understand how to make connectivity meaningful for consumers. As a result, there is a proliferation of early-market products that make consumers question the value of connected products.

Government Plans

The Government is looking for a speedy rollout of Wi-Fi services at selected public places in top 25 cities with population of over 10 lakh, by June 2015. The project is part of the Digital India program, under which the government aims to cover cities with population of over 1 million and tourist destinations with Wi-Fi services by December 2015.

Wi-Fi hot spots offered by local govt. authorities will complement services provided by Mobile Operators as all phones will be required to have a mobile number issued by a mobile operator to initiate Wi-Fi use.

Commenting on the availability of Wi-fi for free or not Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI said, “The quality of service offered is what will decide how much of customers will use free Wi-Fi. It is expected that customers will be required to pay after a certain period of “free usage”. But Private operators will still have to be paid for back haul of traffic from Wi-Fi hot spots to the switch and for routing the calls, so they will still get some revenue from these Wi-Fi hot spots.”

India at very fast pace moving towards making itself digitally sound. Concept initiated by PM Modi has boomed techno industry and created its importance across various verticals at large scale. Recently, Railtel Corporation has also signed MOU with metro services to provide its wifi services which would be implemented in 6 months and travelers would be able to avail quality internet speed.

Railtel Corporation is government organization and public is already started availing Railwire wifi services in New Delhi as well as Banglore railway stations. Public can use free wifi for initial half an hour while they step into platform after registering themselves and after that they have to buy token to avail further services.

Make-In- India initiative

While there is no specific plan stated by the government, it is understood that the Digital India program, aimed at providing connectivity across the country, will include this measure as part of its prerogative. And government took some steps in relation to same.

Many state/local governments, e.g. Delhi, AP, Telangana, Kerala, have approached operators to help them design and roll out Wi-Fi services in various locations. As data services get rolled out, customers will not care about 2G, 3G or 4G but will look for accessibility, quality, affordable prices and the right speeds to run their applications. They will not care who is providing these services or over what networks. So, there will not be a one size fits all.

Indian Government policy framework needs to be open, encourage a collaborative environment and work with consumer benefit in mind.

Is threat coming to internet packs people purchase?

Hand computing has changed the way we interact, explore, learn, inform and get aware. People buy internet packs for data usage of particular operator of particular sim they use. According to me availability of wifi at public areas will minimize the purchase of data packs.

“As far as we understand, the free wi-fi project of State Governments aim to provide free access to m-governance services only and it is expected that customers will be required to pay after a certain period of “free usage”. Access to other services will not be available through these projects and will continue to see the normal competition from mobile operators and wi-fi players. Even for the wi-fi projects of State Governments, private operators will still have to be paid for back haul of traffic from Wi-Fi hot spots to the switch and for routing the calls, so they will still get some revenue from these Wi-Fi hot spots, “Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI briefs the query.

Further, Sanjeev Bobby Sarin, Ceo of Ozone Networks added, “The industry and the ecosystem need to work together rather than in isolation to create a conducive business environment and a win-win situation for all players. We all need to think “ecosystem” than treat it as a “one man” “standalone army”.

Wi-Fi has a definite role to play to help improve mobile traffic capacity concerns in certain locations or at certain times of the day and it is the preferred and primary form of data connection used by many customers as its well understood. So operators say that globally Wi-Fi is a complimentary part of the data networks ecosystem for operators, and India will be no different. As the surge of traffic on mobile networks grows and there is a capacity crunch, operators will need Wi-Fi networks to shoulder the load and offload traffic to free up the mobile network and provide much needed capacity.

Is Wifi totally free?

If Wifi provided free of cost in public areas. If yes, then what is the mode of earnings for wifi providers and for how long it will be provided? Wi-fi provided to customers even in public areas is not totally free.

All customers or operators want to ride their own and then there are a few over crowded ones, almost waiting to get drowned. The “operators” being the ones wanting to drive their own boat & consumers being the ones struggling to find space and all cramped up in a single boat.

But the free public wi-fi projects are in the evolving stages and the State Governments and mobile operators are working together to identify the model that is best suitable. “There is no single price plan/revenue model that has emerged. Operators will monitor customer usage and preferences and will tailor multiple plans to meet various customer needs,” added Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI.

Though the Wi-Fi is free / complimentary to use for the initial 10- 30 minutes depending on the service provider.  The customer is notified once the complimentary session is over and has the choice to pay and continue. “I understand the limitations on the amount of data or time for which this free Internet can be provided but we need to be commercial. I would also like to add that every industry needs to work with a combination and have a free plus paid model, but at the end all businesses need revenue to survive and grow,” stated Sanjeev Bobby Sarin, CEO & Founder, O-Zone Networks. At the end of the day, as a service provider one needs to monetize services to cover infrastructure investments and continuing to deliver customers a seamless quality internet experience, investing in more and more locations to give true access where the user needs it.

Another thing, If quality as well as accessibility for wifi is improved than only this industry will be able to create good business opportunity. Wi-Fi hotspots offer low-cost, high-capacity connections to the Internet, cloud-based applications and storage. But public Wi-Fi access can be complicated. Users face a jumble of hotspots and need to keep track of multiple passwords. Wi-Fi connections often lack security or require additional billing.

With the Alcatel-Lucent carrier Wi-Fi portfolio, connecting is easy and they are applying lightRadio™ innovation to extend high-speed mobile broadband services across both cellular and carrier Wi-Fi networks. Subscribers can access Wi-Fi automatically to stay on their service provider’s network; or they can roam between a cellular network and residential, privately- and publicly-owned carrier Wi-Fi networks and hotspots with the complete peace of mind that these connections are secure.

Can wi-fi leak information?

Going through one article I read “public Wi-Fi can be dangerous if people are not fully aware of it and cyber criminals could steal private information from consumers”.

As per Methew in February 2009, DoT had taken cognizance of the fact that insecure Wi-Fi networks are capable of being misused without any trail of user at a later date, and had issued Instructions under the Internet Service License regarding provision of Wi-Fi Internet service under deli censed frequency band.

For Wi-Fi services provided at public places, i.e. Hotels, Restaurants, Airport Malls, Shops, Railway Stations, through hotspot, these instructions require the Licensee to create bulk Login IDs at each Wi-Fi hotspot location for controlled distribution. The authentication shall be done at a centralized server only which could be a POP location of the service provider.

Manohar Raja, GM of Raitel stated, “Wifi services on Rail platforms are provided to those who register themselves with there details to keep data safe and secure. Also, registered IP address can avail wifi services.”

According to Methew License or its Franchisee shall register the Subscribers for providing temporary Login ID and password for the use of public Wi-Fi spot through either of the following methods:

 Retaining a copy of Photo Identity of the subscriber with Licence which shall be preserved by the Licence for a period of one year.

 Provisioning of Login-ID and Password through SMS on subscriber’s mobile phone through automated process and keeping mobile number of subscriber as the identity of the internet subscriber with reference to Login-ID provided for a period of one year. In such cases, photo identity may not be necessary.

Thus, required regulations are in place to ensure that public Wi-Fi networks are not misused and privacy and security concerns are adequately managed.

For lot of people, the first thing they do when they enter into a public Wi-Fi hotspot is to flip on their Wi-Fi and try to find a free hotspot rather than using their own data plan. Such as O-Zone Wi-Fi hotspots and Railwire Wifi are ensure security. The carrier grade equipment Ozone use itself applies global standards of best practice and data encryption between the users device and the Wi-Fi router. Once you log on into the system, it sends you an OTP for safe surfing and complying with regulation of knowing user identity. This is the same process you go through when entering your credit cards details into the internet.

However there are few things thatone need to keep in mind before accessing public wi-fi hotspots.

Check to make sure your computer or Smartphone is not set up to automatically connect to unknown wi-fi networks.

Make sure to connect to websites via HTTPS, which encrypts anything you send and receive from the website. Before you connect, be sure you know whose network you’re connecting to.

India at wi-fi industry

According to one article India with a population of 1.27 billion, have a broadband penetration of less than 6%. China has 36%, while US has more than 75%. In perspective, China has a population of 1.39 billion while US has a population of 320 million.

There are several factors that have contributed to the growth of slow uptake of broadband. Be it lack of infrastructure, Government regulations, device penetration or cost of building infrastructure. The lack of consistent fixed-line availability is also a key reason.

“In my opinion, if India has to grow and not get stuck in this turmoil of policy framework and heavy-duty spectrum auctions, a mindset change is what is required. At Ozone, we always had the vision to build India’s largest neutral Wi-Fi network for the masses. In one of the most recent network agreements, we have partnered with Ericsson to co-invest and build a neutral Wi-Fi network and we aim to get to 1 million hotspots by the end of 2020,“ adds Sanjeev Bobby Sareen, CEO, Ozone networks.

Ozone Networks Private Ltd., Wi-Fi company has launched the 1st ever Auto-Connect Mobile Application, called the ‘Ozone Connect’. This will allow customers to login the moment they enter an Ozone Wi-Fi hotspot.

Sanjeev Bobby Sarin, Founder & CEO, Ozone Networks said “We are delighted to launch the Ozone Connects App for our consumers. This is not just a 1st of its kind, but a unique consumer centric proposition that will allow people to get easy access to Wi-Fi while they are at a location and simplify the overall experience. We have seen a significant surge, by about 700% in the last 8-9 months in daily login sessions and average session time at our locations. The Ozone Connect app will definitely take the consumer experience to an all new level.”

Wi-Fi to reach Rural India

Like other operators, Ozone is targeting the 700-900 million people who cannot afford broadband at the current home broadband, 3G/4G tariffs. They are going to connect to our Internet because they cannot connect at home. O-Zone has already deployed 6,500 access points, 1,500 of which are public hotspots in 26 different Tier1/2/3 cities, but it aims to reach 1 million hotspots by 2020across locations which are meaningful to this audience.

As per government of India’s stated aim railwire is all set to contribute to goals such as to provide affordable & reliable wifi-on- demad broadband-on-demand by the year 2015, to provide high speed & high quality broadband access by 2020 to all village-panchayats, villages & habitations, enable e-governance in key sectors like Health, Education, Skill Development, Employment, Governance and Banking to ensure equitable & inclusive growth.

Traffic volumes are increasing as are the number and type of radio access sites that operators need to support (such as macro cell, small cell, carrier Wi-Fi®). Today’s flatter IP-based network architecture and the multitude of radio access sites could put the core network at risk. To mitigate this danger, service providers need to implement a security gateway at the edge of the network.

To minimize CAPEX and OPEX, Alcatel-Lucent believes the best solution is to use a common platform to act as the security gateway for all mobile technologies. The AlcatelLucent Security Gateway (SeGW) is implemented on the Alcatel-Lucent 7750 Service Router and 7450 Ethernet Service Switch. It inherits all the features and benefits of those well-established platforms, including high availability, and provides comprehensive, flexible security gateway features. The SeGW can be used in centralized and decentralized deployments, integrates seamlessly with third-party vendor equipment, and provides market-leading capacity to cope with the ever-increasing traffic volumes.