Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme to include five Railway Stations across South Central Zone

In a milestone achievement, RailTel, a mini Ratna PSU under Ministry of Railways today launched Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme based access of its Public WiFi services across 100 Railway Stations having 2384 WiFi hotspots. These stations are spread in 22 states whichinclude71 stations in A1 & A Category and 29 other category stations.

More details:

• Includes five Railway stations across SCR Zone i.e., Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Tenali, Guntur and Vijayawada.
• The soft launch of this public friendly services was done by Shri Puneet Chawla Chairman and Managing Director, RailTel at a programme held at New Delhi today. Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay Executive Director and Chairman of Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), an autonomous Telecom R&D centre of DoT, Govt. of India was present o­n the occasion.
• To access this WiFi network, presently android based Mobile App named ‘Wi-DOT’ can be used which is available o­n Google Play Store. Mobile App can be downloaded from the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.cdot.wani.app.android.tnt 
• This app has been developed in closed coordination with C-DOT.This method of accessing Wi-Fi through mobile app would be in addition to existing method of accessing WiFi at these stations through conventional method of selecting RailWire Service Set Identifier (SSID).
• PM-WANI based access will facilitate ease of use through o­ne time Know Your Customer (KYC) to avoid One Time Password (OTP) based authentication, every time o­ne tries to use WANI based Public WiFi.List of hundred stations is attached here with this press note.
• RailTel’s WiFi network is now spread across 6102 Rly Stations across India has 17, 792 WiFi hotspots, and is still growing. Later, PM-WANI based access of RailTel’s public Wi-Fi services would be extended to all 6102 Railway Stations (where Wi-Fi facility is already available) in phased manner by the end of June 2022 (total 1000 Stations by 10th June, 3000 Stations by 20thJune and all 6102 by 30th June’22).WiFi, the world over is adopted to complement Long Term Evolution ( LTE)based broadband access.
• WiFi hotspots hold an important place in last mile connectivity for delivery of broadband internet access to users. PM-WANI is an ambitious program of Department of Telecom, Government of India to facilitate ease of use and proliferate the broadband usage for masses. C-DOT has designed and developed the framework of PM-WANI. The small shopkeepers can become PDOs (Public Data Offices) as last mile access service providers and take services from PDOAs (PDO aggregators) for Internet & backend services (ISPs or Wi-Fi service providers).
• RailTel’s Wi-Fi network at Railway Stations is serving more than 1.2 mn unique users/day (pre-covid). RailTel offers free Wi-Fi for first 30 minutes at Railway stations, beyond which paid Wi-Fi usage can be bought through o­nline digital channels.

Talking about it, Chairman and Managing Director Shri Puneet Chawla said, “RailTel being the most widespread integrated Wi-Fi network of country supporting the largest footfall of Wi-Fi users, is taking an anchor role in entire PM-WANI eco-system, by continuous engagement with regulatory bodies and industry players, to enhance evolving framework. RailTel will extend its WiFi footprints beyond Rly Stations by leveraging its partnership with more than 7000 last mile service providers to establish Wi-Fi hotspots in underserved areas. RailTel is also making continuous effort in providing broadband internet connectivity to more and more rural areas as part of digital India mission. ” .

Dr. RajKumar Upadhyay, Executive Director and Chairman Board C-DOT underscored the key role of indigenously designed & developed technologies in meeting the specific requirements of diverse geography of India including rural and remote areas. He stressed upon the synergistic engagement between C-DOT and RailTel that will spur innovation leading to design, development & deployment of indigenous technologies in national networks including Indian Railways. PM-WANI hotspots would prove effective in extending cost-effective Internet to passengers at rural and remote railway stations across the country. He congratulated RailTel for the launch of prestigious PM-WANI framework and assured that C-DOT will work relentlessly towards aligning its indigenous Telecom R&D endeavours with the specific requirements of RailTel for meeting the over reaching objectives of national development. As we have signed a MOU with RailTel, we will collaborate in many more areas.

The Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme has been launched at five Railway stations o­n SCR zone, as detailed below:

Source: South Central Railway- Press Release | Image Credit (representational): MoR