25000 WiFi Hotspots:

Introduction

The objective of the scheme is to set up 25,000 public Wi-fi hotspots at rural telephone exchanges of BSNL. USP shall provide broadband internet access over Wi-Fi leveraging BSNL backhaul. The target end-user devices would be smartphones, tablets, etc. USOF shall provide financial support as per the Financial Conditions of the Agreement. The infrastructure created under this project shall be owned by BSNL. BSNL shall select 25,000 rural exchanges from the list as placed at Appendix-I and the same shall be intimated to USOF separately.

Deliverables

• The USP shall be solely responsible for supply, installation, Testing, commissioning, Operation & Maintenance of all the infrastructure created under the project for setting up of Wi-Fi Hotspots in 25,000 rural telephone exchanges (as per Appendix-I), including associated crore network.
• USP shall provide broadband internet access services over Wi-Fi on non-discriminatory basis to all the users.
• USP shall setup 1 Access Point (AP) for each Wi-Fi Hotspots using its own backhaul network with bandwidth of at least 2 Mbps and shall fix a download limit of 4 GB per device per month.
• In addition, upto 2500 Wi-Fi hotspots shall be upgraded to backhaul upto 10 Mbps from initial 2 Mbps, and to two Access Points from one after three months of usage. This enhancement will be done on a need based basis after analysis of usage data of these public Wi-Fi hotspots for three months subject to the approval of Administrator.
• The USP shall be solely responsible for provision and operation of necessary equipment and systems, treatment of subscriber complaints, collection of charges and issue of receipts thereof, attending to claims with settlements and damages arising out of his operations.
• The USP shall replace the faulty & damaged equipment, infrastructure and access points with its own cost.
• The USP shall be responsible for the security of all the infrastructure including hardware and software. USP shall file Police complaints against deliberately defacing of infrastructure including theft and damage. However, USP shall be responsible for the settlement of such cases to ensure the upkeep of Wi-Fi network all the times.
• The independent agency for doing impact assessment shall be appointed by BSNL and the cost of this assessment shall be borne by USOF/DoT. Also assessment may be carried out on sample basis and a sample of 4% i.e. 1000 rural exchanges may be considered. Framework or impact Assessment is at Annexure-1 of the Agreement dated 09-06-2017.

Timelines

• The rollout period for setting up 25,000 Wi-Fi Hotspots shall be six months from the date of signing of the Agreement dated 09-06-2017.
• The Evaluation/impact Assessment shall be carried out and submitted to USOF by USP within 6 to 12 months form the signing of the USOF Agreement dated 09-06-2017.
• USP will operate the sites and deliver service for a minimum period of three years from the date commissioning. Thereafter, BSNL will continue to provide services without any support from USOF.
• The USP shall provide the month-wise Rollout plan to implement the project within 15 days of signing the Agreement dated 09-06-2017.

Duration of Agreement

The Agreement shall be valid for a period of 5 Years,6 Months, 23 Days from the effective date unless revoke earlier for reasons as specific elsewhere in the document.