wordpress blog stats
Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

How the AAP Government should approach free WiFi in Delhi

The promise of free WiFi was an intriguing part of the Aam Aadmi Party manifesto: there were scant details (to my knowledge) of what the exact offering would be. Now that the political party has won with a historic majority, all eyes are on how this will be implemented. News reports suggest the following: it will cost Rs 150-200 crore, it could be advertising supported, and Facebook has been in talks with them (for the net-neutrality violating Internet.org). There is a great opportunity to make Delhi into a vibrant tech and free speech hub, and here's how we think the tech-hub part of it should be implemented, taking into account issues of neutrality, competition, accessibility, security and convenience: 1. At the core, a neutral WiFi infrastructure service provider: This can be pure play telecom/Internet infrastructure company like Indus Towers (a JV between Airtel, Idea and Vodafone) or an independent white labeled player like Ozone Networks. It must be compulsory for whoever wins the contract to ensure that all licensed ISPs and Telecom Operators are able to offer their services on top of free WiFi, for which they can buy bandwidth. There should be a designated number of hotspots in the city (say, 10,000 hotspots). A white labeled approach ensures that Delhi isn't carved up into fiefdoms of telecom operators: that some areas only have MTNL, others only have Tata Teleservices, Reliance Jio or Airtel. That's the way home wireline and Cable TV access currently works in Delhi: everyone has their own fiefdom because…

Please subscribe/login to read the full story.
Written By

Founder @ MediaNama. TED Fellow. Asia21 Fellow @ Asia Society. Co-founder SaveTheInternet.in and Internet Freedom Foundation. Advisory board @ CyberBRICS

Free Reads

News

The tech giant made it clear it doesn't share data from organizations using Azure OpenAI and Copilot to third-parties or use it to train...

Google

Among the selected organizations are Quill.org and the World Bank, both known for their work in AI-powered tools.

PhonePe PhonePe

News

PhonePe explained that this collaboration with UAE’s Mashreq Bank was facilitated through Mashreq’s partnership with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL).

MediaNama’s mission is to help build a digital ecosystem which is open, fair, global and competitive.

Views

News

NPCI CEO Dilip Asbe recently said that what is not written in regulations is a no-go for fintech entities. But following this advice could...

News

Notably, Indus Appstore will allow app developers to use third-party billing systems for in-app billing without having to pay any commission to Indus, a...

News

The existing commission-based model, which companies like Uber and Ola have used for a long time and still stick to, has received criticism from...

News

Factors like Indus not charging developers any commission for in-app payments and antitrust orders issued by India's competition regulator against Google could contribute to...

News

Is open-sourcing of AI, and the use cases that come with it, a good starting point to discuss the responsibility and liability of AI?...

You May Also Like

News

Google has released a Google Travel Trends Report which states that branded budget hotel search queries grew 179% year over year (YOY) in India, in...

Advert

135 job openings in over 60 companies are listed at our free Digital and Mobile Job Board: If you’re looking for a job, or...

News

By Aroon Deep and Aditya Chunduru You’re reading it here first: Twitter has complied with government requests to censor 52 tweets that mostly criticised...

News

Rajesh Kumar* doesn’t have many enemies in life. But, Uber, for which he drives a cab everyday, is starting to look like one, he...

MediaNama is the premier source of information and analysis on Technology Policy in India. More about MediaNama, and contact information, here.

© 2008-2021 Mixed Bag Media Pvt. Ltd. Developed By PixelVJ

Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Name:*
Your email address:*
*
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

© 2008-2021 Mixed Bag Media Pvt. Ltd. Developed By PixelVJ