Wi-Fi journey in India to be hit by high cost, low awareness

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 15 December 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Despite all the talk of its benefits, indoor wireless local area network, also known as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), is likely to face huge challenges before it is accepted in the Indian market, according to a study by IMRB. "Low awareness of Wi-Fi benefits and high cost of installation are main barriers to adoption, Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) said in a report. It said few aggressive Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and five star hotels may drive hot-spot growth but more are needed; the rate of return for such initiatives are still unproven. "Companies seeking to offer Wi-fi need to start the journey from the top of the segment -- IT, telecom and banking and financial services segment, while looking at Wi-Fi as a networking solution of both wide local area network (WLAN) and telecommmunications. Low computer penetration is possibly the cause of low level of Wi-Fi usage among other segments, the report said. "The market is in its infancy for wireless. There is a need to wait till history of wireless telephony repeats itself in wireless LAN and Internet. Wireless Internet is still a far dream for implementation." "Wireless needs to enhance its awareness and build relevance", the report said. Dal Lake in Kashmir has been Wi-fied while Sify has set up hotspots in Bangalore, making the entire city Wi-Fi enabled.

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