Government and enterprise interest in Wi-Fi has increased: Tata Teleservices

“In last year and half, there has been significant interest and focus of the government and enterprises in the Wi-Fi. Now we have come to a stage where we have started to analyse how best we can use Wi-Fi as a complementary technology to what we already have such as mobility or cellular network for mobile customers, fixed network for fixed customers and wireless network for nomatic customers,” says Sunil Tandon, Head – Non Voice Services, Tata Teleservices in conversation with Mohd Ujaley.

Edited Excerpts:

How the Wi-Fi  space has evolved in last couple of years?
In last year and half, there has been significant interest and focus of the government and enterprises in the Wi-Fi. Now we have come to a stage where we have started to analyse how best we can use Wi-Fi as a complementary technology to what we already have such as mobility or cellular network for mobile customers, fixed network for fixed customers and wireless network for nomatic customers.

Mobile customers are those who are traveling in the car and if there is need to talk to somebody, they are best served by the cellular networks. 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G is the technology truly suited for the mobile users. Fixed user is somebody who is in the desk or in office can be served by the fixed-line network both for voice and data. Nomatic users are those who are at a particular place for  longish period of time – more than 20 minute, such as on airport, cafe, shopping mall etc., that in our assessment is well served by the Wi-Fi network.

The interest in Wi-Fi has also increased because of some positive global announcement. A big device manufacturer and a few other companies made some big announcement around Wi-Fi that lead to improved eco-sytem and users experience. In India also government efforts on Digital India and Smart Cities are very visible, both have generated lot of interest and now people are beginning to discuss what possible and what is not possible, And, I feel those are very interesting development because it has potential to touch different possibilities of using technology.

You mentioned that there is growing interest and focus in Wi-Fi as a complementary technology. In your opinion what are key areas that need to be addressed to stimulate the Wi-Fi space?
We need to address few things. Other than investment in this sector, we need last mile connectivity. In our country the last mile fibre is still limited. It is a huge challenge because if you want to provide fast internet access to people, you need fibre as backhaul. Second, the availability and quality of electricity is different at different locations and it also varies in different seasons and the different time of the day. The electronic equipment that we use either for Wi-Fi or for any other services, they need some sort of energy, therefore we need a robust energy supply system at all the places.

Having said that in our assessment there is lot of optimism. We still have lot of people who are unable to access the internet. And, as more and more people discover that and see what internet can do to simplify their life, what it can do to make it more convenient and what can it do for them to be socially connected with friends and relatives. I think that is going to drive lot of adoption.  As the next 100-200 million people go out and discover the internet, the demand will keep on coming. While there are challenges and there will always be challenges when you are trying to do something new, but strong demand in our assessment over a period of time will ensure that we ride over these challenges.

When it comes to last mile connectivity, we seem to be banking too much on NOFN. How feasible is it?
We should look at all the alternative option all the time. Typically, if you look at the country like USA, there are five access medium available to them. They have broadband, cellular, DTH, satellite, cable etc. You can choose any one or can build redundancy by using one as the main and second as secondary option. But in our country, we have only one or two options. We still have that journey to travel. And, at this stage of the journey, we are absolutely open – open to investment, open to work with various partners and open to different technologies.

There is flurry of announcement from state governments of providing free Wi-Fi access but how do you  monetise it and make it self-sustainable?
We absolutely believe that anything that we start we must ensure that it is self-sustainable. It means that it must provide opportunities for revenue generation. There are traditional models, for example some state government and municipalities are open to paying fee per user per month, which I think is a very welcome steps. In addition to this, there is possibility of analysing the usage information at aggregate level, not at individual level, and use that to serve appropriate value to the customers. And, you know there are corporate out there who are willing to pay for that.  Third is the subscription model, typically, there is certain amount of free minute and thereafter there is option to buy time, so as the Wi-Fi discovery become clear, as people appreciate our value, those will start picking up.

In December, companies like Reliance Jio are likely to roll-out telephony and data services at massive level, that may impact the overall direction of the market. How do you look at it?
In a nation of 125 crore people, only 25 crore access internet today and when you specifically talked about Wi-Fi, it is still in early stage. Countries like China has got more than a million hot-spot, collectively put together, we are far away from China. There is lot of opportunities for all the companies here. We as a company have always believed in competition. More choices in front of the customer will help the market to grow, create awareness and obviously it will make us more leaner, fitter and smarter. We are actually looking forward to December, finally lot of people would have affordable access to hi-speed internet. I think that is clearly a game changes, we today cannot visualise the possibilities, people will themselves discover.