New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Thursday issued draft design of public WiFi network project that aims to provide low-cost wireless Internet services.

Under the proposed system, any entity with valid permanent account number (PAN) will be able to set up public data offices (PDOs), similar to public call offices (PCOs) of yesteryears, for providing public WiFi hotspots, as per the draft released by Trai.

The telecom regulator has invited proposals from all entities willing to be part of the public WiFi pilot by 25 July. Any software or hardware company can submit its interest to Trai for providing technologies required for setting up PDOs.

“This document intends to provide detailed technology specifications for various providers to ensure full WANI (WiFi access network interface) system interoperability. All providers must ensure compliance with this specifications to be part of this initiative.

“This is a technical document and does not fully cover detailed policy aspects and enabling framework," Trai said in the document on architecture and specifications of public WiFi.

The regulator at this stage has proposed to open network design—WANI—for setting up public WiFi hotspots. The authority has proposed a central registry that will be managed by the department of telecommunications (DoT) or Trai or an entity approved by either of them containing information about the PDOs, etc.

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