TRAI restricts Wi-Fi hotspot operator fees

• The order follows years of lower-than-targeted deployments of hotspots under the Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) programme.

• The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and TRAI blame Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for selling commercial Internet plans priced ’40 to 80 times’ the residential tariffs.

• TRAI’s final Telecommunication Tariff (71st Amendment) Order, 2025, only applies to broadband tariffs of up to 200Mbps speeds.

• Opposition to a cap on tariffs on Wi-Fi hotspot operators includes telecom operators and Tata Communications, which run much of the Indian Internet’s “backhaul” bandwidth.

• This is TRAI’s second recent tariff intervention, a role it undertakes rarely as prices are under a ‘forbearance’ regime with telecom operators and ISPs freely setting their tariffs.