PM Modi calls PM-WANI scheme 'historic', says 'will strengthen Digital India Mission'

Calling the clearing of the PM-WANI scheme 'historic', Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the scheme would 'revolutionize the tech world', significantly improving WiFi availability across the length and breadth of India. He added that through the scheme, WiFi would be easily accessible to small shopkeepers, youth, and others which would further 'Ease of Doing Business' and 'Ease of Living'. 

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Cabinet Approves PM-WANI

On Wednesday, the Union Cabinet approved PM-WANI- a key scheme in the telecom sector to expand the internet coverage across the length and breadth of the country. Elaborating on the announcement, Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stated that the Prime Minister WiFi Access Network Interface was an extension of the Centre's vision of digital empowerment. The scheme entails public data offices that will acquire public WiFi services through data service providers. 

"Today, the first important decision is PM-WANI- Prime Minister WiFi Access Network Interface. It is an extraordinarily important step to unleash a WiFi revolution in the country. This will be a public WiFi system. We will first open a public data office. For the public data office, there is no license, registration, or fee. We have 3.45 lakh public service centres who provide digital services in villages. They can come up overnight on this."

Once the authentication is done, a person can access WiFi anywhere in the country. According to Prasad, this will ensure that crores of people can access internet services under the ambit of this scheme. "Public Data centres can acquire internet services through data service providers and others. Public Data Aggregator will deal with the accounting of the Public Data Office. You can download an App that will be available on the AppStore which will facilitate authentication. We will also keep it on the website. We will provide the links. Thereafter, you can acquire WiFi from any PDO. From village to village, WiFI will be available. Crores of people can access it," he added. 

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Read: Cabinet Approves PM-WANI In Big Boost To Internet Access, To Set Public WiFi Networks