India has done what no other country has - made digital payments cheapest in world via UPI, made data cheapest via Jio. Yet, internet access is still not universal. Why? Because we sell internet in monthly packs, not sachets.
R S Sharma, former TRAI Chairman and architect of Aadhaar, makes compelling case: The internet in a sachet - this idea's time has come.
He starts with reality: India has 1.2 billion telecom subscribers but only 800 million internet users. Why? Because monthly recharge of Rs 200-300 is still high for poor, and Wi-Fi is not available in slum areas.
Read more - Agents Gone Rogue
Sharma recalls how FMCG cracked India by selling shampoo in Re 1 sachet. Same logic should apply to data. In 2018, TRAI issued consultation paper on Public Data Office - PDO - like PCO of 1990s. Any small shop could become PDO, buy bandwidth in bulk and sell in sachets - Rs 2 for 30 minutes, Rs 5 for 1 hour - via Wi-Fi. No licence, no registration, just open.
The idea got support from eight entities running some 50,000 PDOs. Then came PM-WANI - Prime Minister's Wi-Fi Access Network Interface - launched in 2021. It removed licence requirement. As of 2024, over 2 lakh PM-WANI hotspots deployed, but many non-functional. Why? Because big telcos, who also sell data packs, have no incentive to promote WANI. They want you to buy their monthly pack, not a sachet.
Sharma says we need to resolve what he calls "sachet vs bottle" conflict. Telcos see sachet as cannibalising their business. But for consumer, sachet is first, open, then maybe bottle.
He also talks about competition. India has only 4 telcos now, with Jio and Airtel holding 80%. Broadband is even more concentrated - JioFiber and Airtel Xstream dominate. WANI could create millions of small entrepreneurs - tea stall, kirana - who resell internet.
Read more - The M Made The iPhone
The need is urgent. India has 400 million people who have feature phone, not smartphone. For them, sachet is entry point. For 200 million who have smartphone but cannot afford monthly data, sachet is lifeline.
The writer, a former chairman of Government of India as personal, says the WANI architecture is built with open interoperability, no single monopoly. It is like UPI for Wi-Fi.
If India can do UPI, it can do WANI. Internet in a sachet is not about charity. It is about market creation.
Tags: #RSSarma #PMWANI #InternetSachet #DigitalDivide #TRAI #PublicWiFi #UPI #Jio #Airtel #Broadband