By Salman SH and Nikhil Pahwa "There could be small entrepreneurs or even a very small entity which would like to participate in common and shared WiFi network for larger public use", the TRAI has mused in its consultation paper on Public WiFi networks(pdf). The phrase “public WiFi networks” has broader meaning, and is not limited to the WiFi hotspot created by licensed TSP/ISP at public places, it says, and with the rollout of the BharatNet project, "The next logical step would be for Panchayats and local entrepreneurs to utilise this Internet access to create WiFi networks offering e-learning, e-governance, ebanking, e-health and other online services to the community." The questions posed in the consultation paper are below, and the submissions have to be sent to broadbandtrai@gmail.com by the 10th of August, 2016. Counter comments will be allowed till 24th of August, 2016. The State of WiFi in India India has only 31,518 public WiFi hotspots, as compared to over 47 million globally, and the TRAI believes that to have one hotspot for every 150 people, we need 800,000 hotspots. India's performance, though, has been abysmal: "Globally the increase in number of Wi-Fi hotspots from 2013 to 2016 has been 568% whereas India has an increase of 12% only. It acknowledges community WiFi projects by AirJaldi, Digital Empowerment Foundation and Village Telco. WiFi costs Based on discussions with stakeholders, the TRAI has estimated that the cost of WiFi (20 hotspots for a tier 2 city with around 40,000 subscribers and 10,000 concurrent…
