Telecom industry body Broadband India Forum (BIF) on Wednesday, 27 May welcomed two notifications issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) aimed at strengthening the PM-WANI public wi-fi ecosystem, calling them a significant push toward nationwide digital inclusion. The notifications address short-duration data plans and QR-based device authentication within the PM-WANI framework.

What the Two Notifications Cover

The first notification advises Public Data Offices (PDOs) and Public Data Office Aggregators (PDOAs) to introduce short-duration, bite-sized data packs — commonly called sachets — under the PM-WANI framework. These would serve users requiring brief internet access, including travellers, students, daily commuters, and visitors at malls and shops.

The second notification amends the existing WANI framework guidelines to enable QR-based authentication for secondary devices such as laptops and tablets. Under this change, users can securely extend their already-authenticated smartphone session to additional devices, improving interoperability, ease of access, and security across PM-WANI hotspots.

Standardised Branding Across Hotspots

The amended guidelines also standardise SSID nomenclature across all PM-WANI hotspots, mandating uniform 'PM-WANI' branding to make network identification easier for end users. This is a step toward building user trust and recognition at scale — particularly in semi-urban and rural areas where digital literacy remains uneven.

What BIF Said

T.V. Ramachandran, President of BIF, called the measures 'timely, pragmatic and consumer-centric,' saying they would 'further accelerate India's digital inclusion and public broadband objective.' He added that 'Public Wi-Fi can't scale on monthly plans alone. Bite-sized, affordable access packs will directly boost hotspot utilisation and unlock additional revenues for PDOs and PDOAs, especially in high-footfall and underserved areas, thereby improving their business case.'

Ramachandran further described the moves as consistent with PM-WANI's founding principles, saying the framework is 'one of India's most important digital inclusion initiatives, with the potential to become the DPI of the connectivity layer, alongside fibre, mobile, satellite and other tech.'

Why PM-WANI Matters

Launched as a light-touch, zero-licence framework, PM-WANI was designed to democratise public broadband by enabling MSMEs, village-level entrepreneurs (VLEs), startups, kirana stores, and local businesses to set up wi-fi hotspots without regulatory burden. Despite its promise, adoption has been uneven — the sachet model and QR authentication are seen as two of the more actionable levers to drive utilisation beyond urban centres.

This comes amid a broader government push to deepen India's digital public infrastructure (DPI) stack, with connectivity increasingly treated as a foundational layer alongside Aadhaar, UPI, and the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). With these two notifications, DoT signals that PM-WANI's rollout is entering a more operationally focused phase.