Question : PM WANI Scheme

(a) the details of the number of Public data offices established and the active users under the PM WANI scheme, District-wise;

(b) whether the Government is aware of the fact that open public networks are susceptible to attacks and breaches and if so, the measures being undertaken to mitigate such security risks;

(c) whether the Government has undertaken a study to understand the advantage of PM WANI scheme over the scheme of increasing the penetration of already existing cheap 4G data in the country and if so, the details thereof; and

(d) whether the Government can justify the reasons for charging a fee for using WANI compliant Wi-Fi networks instead of using the Universal Service Obligation Fund to provide free public Wi-Fi and if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS
(SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

(a) As on 08-12-2021, 50626 Wi-Fi Access Points (Public Data Offices) have been set up under Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) framework. Number of active users served by an Access Point is not static and depends on number of users coming in the range of a particular Access Point at a particular time. District wise number of Access Points is available online on the portal https://pmwani.cdot.in/ .

(b) Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued instructions to Service Providers regarding secure use of public Wi-Fi Access Points. Further, detailed guidelines including Security Conditions have been issued by the Department for the entities operating under PM-WANI framework.

(c) No, Sir. PM WANI framework and 4G technologies complement each other.

(d) The PM-WANI framework enables provisioning of broadband services through a distributed architecture and unbundling of functions. Public Data Office Aggregators (PDOAs) and Public Data Offices (PDOs) operating under the PM-WANI framework are not required to pay any license fee to the Government. Universal Service Obligation Fund is used to provide access to telecom services to people in the rural and remote areas at affordable and reasonable prices.


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