The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has welcomed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Telecommunication Tariff (71st Amendment) Order, 2025 (PR 46/2025). The amendment mandates that all retail fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband plans up to 200 Mbps must be offered to public data offices (PDOs) at tariffs not exceeding twice the corresponding consumer broadband price. With this ceiling in place, the backhaul tariff for the public Wi-Fi hotspot are expected to come down drastically and are set to become up to 10 times more economical. This has been launched under Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM‑WANI) scheme.

The current tariff order of TRAI is in response to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) reference to TRAI to review the PM-WANI PDO backhaul tariffs. The reference stated that high internet costs and compulsory expensive leased line agreements were dissuading local shopkeepers and small businesses from becoming PDOs, limiting the scheme’s growth.

Earlier, the DoT had issued a suite of targeted reforms in the PM‑WANI framework to resolve bottlenecks in public Wi‑Fi expansion. Some of these landmark reforms included the following:

  • Backhaul aggregation- Several access points can share a single backhaul link, facilitating broader hotspots without extra expense.
  • Dual‑Service Set Identifier (SSID) home/business integration- Private Wi‑Fi access points (APs) can now add a public SSID to join PM‑WANI, exploring fresh income from current
  • Roaming across PDO aggregators (PDOAs)- Users can seamlessly switch among PDOA networks, enhanced by a unified payment ecosystem.
  • Mobile data offload tie‑ups- PDOs can pair with telecom service providers (TSPs) to remove spectrum congestion while earning extra revenue.
  • Ad‑push capabilities- Subject to user consent, PDOAs and app providers can deliver relevant content/promotions, adding monetisation routes.

Together, these reforms and TRAI’s tariff cap are likely to boost affordability for small PDO operators, incentivise small-scale and grassroots PDOs, and fuel the expansion of public Wi‑Fi networks – bridging the digital divide and empowering local entrepreneurs.