Outdoor Wi-Fi networks flourish -- illegally!

Who says India is slow in adapting to wireless technology? Perhaps, adapting to wireless technology legally, yes. But, illegally, not so. There are over 200 RF antennas installed at various locations across Mumbai. Most of them are functioning without acquiring a proper licence. Market sources say that almost 70% of these installations are illegal.

Realizing the huge potential for this technology, the Government delicensed the 2.4GHz spectrum for indoor use last year. Despite the delicensing, little changed in this segment. Business was as usual. 

Baring a few five-star hotels and airports, very few actually went ahead to take the benefits of delicensed spectrum to get their organizations wireless-enabled. The privilege that the government bestowed on this industry for indoor use did not grow much, purely for the reason that high growth potential in this segment lies in outdoor use.

And hence, the wireless business for outdoor use is unofficially growing. No government agency has shown any seriousness in attempting to track the illegal users of this technology. Or is it that the Government, by not booking the culprits and punishing them, is unofficially agreeing to the fact that the spectrum be used freely for outdoor use as well? 

Well, the fact is, that the Government is short of manpower and resources to do the tracking. WPC, the licensing authority for wireless links, operates with a skeletal staff. When they do not have enough time to process applications, how will they find time to do the patrolling?

A license for outdoor wireless usage costs a fee of Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 per link. It takes a minimum of three months to get the licence from the Government, and about six months to get clearance from the Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocations
(SACFA). 

An additional Rs 15,000 has to be paid to SACFA for installing an antenna above the prescribed height (long distance coverage is not possible unless antennas are placed on high-rise buildings).

The one reason why illegal wireless networks are flourishing is that there are too many legalities involved in this business. The importer of wireless equipment has to get a import licence, the dealer of wireless equipments is required to have a dealer possession licence, the systems integrator doing installation should acquire a demo licence, and users who actually make use of these equipments should purchase a user
licence. 

Users of wireless technology in the outdoor space are mostly ISPs (Internet Service Providers) providing high bandwidth (broadband) Internet services to corporates. Some of the illegal networks in Mumbai are being operated by ISPs without even acquiring an ISP licence. The Government prescribed bandwidth limit is 64 to 128 kilo-bits-per-second. However, most networks have crossed the mega-bits-per-second levels. Some operators are using such networks based on demo licenses acquired one year ago.

Nelson Johny

Mumbai