RailTel Corporation of India has invited tenders for Request Proposal for selection of business partner for monetization of station Wi-Fi on captive portal at Railway Stations.
- Tender Reference Number: RailTel/ Tender/OT/CO/Mktg/2022-23/Station Wi-Fi/03
- Name of Work: Request for Proposal for selection of business partner for monetization of station Wi-Fi on captive portal at Railway Stations.
- EMD: INR 13.3 Lakhs
- Document Download / Sale Start Date: 10th August, 2022
- Document Download / Sale End Date: 08th September, 2022
- Pre Bid Meeting: 25th August, 2022
- Bid Submission Start Date: 10th August, 2022
- Bid Submission End Date: 08th September, 2022
Scope of Work:
- Internet in India is largely mobile internet with a high percentage of them on 2G and 3G while RailTel had sought to bridge the Digital Divide. It was inadvertently bridging the experience divide of the internet where millions of users experience fast access to the internet for the first time.
- Usage statistics show significant pent-up demand for connectivity, amongst train commuters in stations covered by the station Wi-Fi project who have used the service. With unconstrained, free high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity, an average user consumes 343 MB in an average 30-minute data session.
- This is much higher than what we observe on an average 3G connection in the country currently, around 30MB per user per day. It is also important to note that the usage of 300MB using the Station Wi-Fi is just for a 30-minute session, compared to the usage of 560MB for a Reliance Jio user for an entire day.
- It is estimated that 20000 users everyday are first time users of the internet and there are very heartwarming stories of how the station Wi-Fi has helped to transform lives.
- A porter clearing Kerala public service commission examination studying at station using RailWire Wi-Fi, a mother who is an auto driver by profession visiting railway station for using Wi-Fi to update her knowledge to teach her son, Cancer patients from economically weak section coming to Mumbai station to use Wi-Fi for entertainment, a Fashion Designing student using station Wi-Fi to sell her creation or a cafeteria manager at Bareilly using RailWire Wi-Fi to keep track of trains for planning food preparation for his café to offer faster service and reduce wastage – RailWire WiFi is surely helping hundreds of people to fulfill their dreams.
PM-WANI (PM WiFi Access Network Interface):
- In line with GOI’s initiative to facilitate easy to use cost effective broadband internet services & generate micro entrepreneurship through public WIFi hotspots, RailTel announced pilot launch of PMWANI based access of its Public WiFi services across 100 Railway Stations spread out in 22 states. Presently android based Mobile App (Wi-DOT) can be used to access WiFi network; this would be in addition to access WiFi at these stations through conventional method of selecting RailWire SSID.
- WiFi, the world over, is adopted to complement LTE based broadband access. Access to broadband internet to the masses is still limited due to non-ubiquitous coverage of LTE. Public WiFi hotspots hold an important place in last mile connectivity for delivery of broadband internet access for not so privileged users.
- PM-WANI is an ambitious program to facilitate users to access all silo WiFi networks through any WANI compiled Mobile App which would help to proliferate broadband usage by masses. PMWANI based access will facilitate ease of use through one time KYC to avoid OTP based authentication every time one wants to access public WiFi.
- RailTel’s WiFi network is now spread across 6102 Rly Stations across India and has 17,792 WiFi hotspots, and is still growing. RailTel offers free WiFi for the first 30 minutes at Railway stations, beyond which paid WiFi usage can be bought through online digital channels.
- RailTel is playing anchor role in Public WiFi ecosystem and planning to extend its WiFi footprints beyond Rly Stations by leveraging its existing partnership with more than 7500 last mile service providers (who are delivering FTTH based broadband services) to establish WiFi hotspots in internet hungry areas, by becoming PDOs (public data office). In addition to this RailTel would partner with other PDO aspirants to take public WiFi to Bus Terminals and Rly hospitals also.
- This initiative has potential to help digital India mission by broadband usage at very low cost for the people who can’t afford independent broadband connections. RailTel would complete making all 6102 Railway Stations PMWANI compiled before 30th June.
Project Scope:
- As the initiative of digital India and under the guidance of the Ministry of Railways, RailTel has installed Wi-Fi hotspots at approx. 6102+ Railway Stations and is in the process to install wi-fi hotspots in other few Railway Stations.
- All the hotspots installed at Railway Stations are to provide free Wi-Fi services to passengers and other public.
- As free Wi-Fi in the Railway stations, the project needs strong monetization and analytics to make it more useful and financially feasible, RailTel wishes to monetize its Wi-Fi Hotspots by showing Digital content, advertisements on the captive portal and through any other relevant innovation for monetization.
- Recently, RailTel has launched paid Wi-Fi services for passengers to utilize high speed Wi-Fi services after 30 minute free usage. The limit of free Wi-Fi is kept as 30 minutes now. Revenue from paid Wi-Fi is not in the scope of this RFP.
- RailTel wishes to Select an Agency who will build, integrate and manage complete monetization of RailTel Wi-Fi and will be responsible for getting Digital Advertisements, run them and share minimum guarantee amount with RailTel.
- The successful bidder is expected to carry out work for Implementation of Platform/Solution coordination with RailTel, within ) one (1) months from date of signing of contract.
Eligibility:
- The bidder/ its consortium should be a Company registered in India under the Companies Act 1956 or 2013 or later or a partnership registered under the Indian Partnership Act 1932 or LLP act 2008.
- As on date of submission of the proposal, the Bidder shall not be under any declaration of ineligibility for unsatisfactory past performance, corrupt or fraudulent practices, any other unethical business practices or blacklisted either by Central / State Government, PSU, Local or Urban body – Municipalities, Ministry/ Department of Government of India/ State Governments.
- The bidder should have experience of executing 2 or more projects involving monetization of digital advertising space in the last 3 years with Government (Central/State/local)/PSUs/ Educational Institutions/ reputed company/organization”.
- The consortium shall have minimum cumulative annual turnover during the last preceding three financial years ( last three previous year plus current financial year) of INR 17.7 Crore. Current FY period: From 01.04.2021 to 10.08.2022 (*Date of float of NIT) The total of all the consortium partners will be checked for turnover.
- The bidder/its consortium should have the ability to push ads and monetise a Wi-Fi network through different channels/ methods. It should include custom Splash page designs, user flow and integrated SMS and payment gateways.
- The consortium should have positive net worth in each of the last 3 financial years.
- The bidder/its consortium should have a valid GST registration number and PAN number or TIN number or its equivalent registered number relevant in their country where the company is registered.
The complete documents can be downloaded from https://www.ireps.gov.in
Source: RailTel -Tender | Image Credit (representational): RailTel
