Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Stephen Rose
CEO Render Networks

Similar to what the government did for the new rupee sign and the Swachh Bharat logo, now Trai has opened up a new contest for the name and logo design of Public Wi-Fi networks. It was last year when the Indian telecom regulator published its recommendations on ‘proliferation of broadband through public Wi-Fi networks’. Later when the consultation on the same recommendations were going on, issues like technical interoperability and seamless connectivity of Wi-Fi networks, innovative payment, commercialisation and monetisation models, and collaborative alliances were discussed.

The discussions and recommendations came to fruition when it was decided that an open architecture based Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (WANI) would be set up in the country to facilitate cheap public Wi-Fi services to the public.
As per an ET report, Trai said in a statement “It is a uniquely designed Indian model to provide reliable internet service that is also interoperable, easily discoverable, and will extend benefits of existing schemes of the government like BharatNet, BHIM, JanDhanYojna.”
For now, these public Wi-Fi hotspots would be called as ‘Public Data Offices (PDOs)’. However, Trai wishes to have a better name and logo for these entities through a way of public contest. There was an official statement regarding the same calling for entries before July 2. The statement read Name and logo suggestion contest for Wi-Fi hotspots of WANI compliant networks is an initiative of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to make the citizens participate in this developmental process.”