PM-WANI Case Study: How a Rural West Bengal Village Grew to 3,000+ Public Wi-Fi Users with Winet Infratel
A fully DoT-compliant PM-WANI deployment — PM-WANI compliant access points, a carrier-grade AAA / RADIUS server, captive portal and IPDR logging — that took a village from patchy mobile data to affordable, always-on 24x7 internet for more than 3,000 residents.
Bridging the digital divide in rural West Bengal with PM-WANI
The village, located in rural West Bengal, is home to farmers, small traders, daily-wage and migrant-worker families, and a large student population. Mobile data coverage was inconsistent — strong at the main road, weak inside homes and lanes — and the cost of daily mobile data packs kept many households, especially students and women, offline for most of the day.
A local entrepreneur wanted to set up public Wi-Fi as a Public Data Office (PDO) under the Department of Telecommunications' PM-WANI (Prime Minister's Wi-Fi Access Network Interface) framework. PM-WANI allows anyone — a shop, a Common Service Centre, a cooperative — to offer licence-fee-free public Wi-Fi, provided it is aggregated by a registered Public Data Office Aggregator (PDOA) that runs compliant authentication, accounting and logging systems.
The PDO partnered with Winet Infratel, a DoT-registered PM-WANI PDOA, for the complete technology and compliance stack: access points, captive portal, AAA server, IPDR server, payments and ongoing network operations. The village name and PDO identity can be provided with PDO's request approvals.
| Location | Rural village, West Bengal, India |
|---|---|
| Framework | PM-WANI (DoT, Government of India) |
| PDOA & technology partner | Winet Infratel |
| PDO | Local village entrepreneur |
| Users | Few hundred in first 3 months → 3,000+ registered users |
| Service | Public Wi-Fi hotspot internet, 24x7, prepaid vouchers |
| Core platform | PM-WANI compliant APs, captive portal, AAA / RADIUS, IPDR & NAT logging, NMS |
| Compliance | DoT PM-WANI guidelines, C-DOT Central Registry, 1-year in-India data retention |
What the PDO and the village needed
Public Wi-Fi in a village only works if it is cheap, reliable and simple — and if the operator can prove compliance to the regulator at any time. The project brief combined community goals with strict PM-WANI obligations.
- Affordable internet that families can keep on all day, not ration by the megabyte
- A turnkey, scalable public Wi-Fi solution the PDO can run with one shared engineer
- Fast launch with a small number of hotspots, expandable as demand grows
- Full PM-WANI compliance from day one — no grey-zone Wi-Fi
- Simple sign-up for first-time internet users on low-cost smartphones
- UPI / digital payments and cash vouchers sold at the PDO's shop
PM-WANI regulatory obligations
- PDOA registration with DoT and listing on the C-DOT Central Registry
- Every access point, SSID and location registered with the Central Registry
- User authentication via a PM-WANI App Provider with mobile OTP verification
- Authorisation and accounting of every session on the PDOA's AAA system
- Storage of user data and usage logs for at least one year, within India
- User privacy and confidentiality safeguards
An end-to-end PM-WANI PDOA platform: access points, AAA, captive portal and IPDR
Winet Infratel delivered the complete carrier Wi-Fi stack as a managed service, so the PDO could focus on customers while Winet handled the network, the backend and the compliance.
PM-WANI compliant access points
Outdoor and indoor dual-band Wi-Fi access points broadcasting WANI-compliant beacons and SSIDs, so any PM-WANI app can discover the hotspot. Mounted on poles and rooftops for lane-level coverage.
AAA / RADIUS server
Winet's highly available AAA server authenticates users against the App Provider's signed token, authorises users and profiles, records RADIUS accounting (start, interim, stop) for every session. Splashes PDO's custom Captive portal with PDO branding and plan validity details
IPDR & NAT log server
Dedicated IPDR server capturing user ID, MAC address, assigned private and public IP, NAT port mapping, session times and data volume — retained for at least one year on servers located in India.
PDO captive portal
Lightweight, bilingual (Bengali / English) captive portal that shows plans, handles payment and starts the session — designed for entry-level Android phones and first-time users.
Vouchers & payment gateway
UPI and online payments on the portal, plus printed and administrator panel recharges the PDO sells over the counter — with a reseller view of sales and commissions.
NMS, reporting & 24x7 monitoring
Central network monitoring, AP health alerts, user growth and usage dashboards, Central Registry sync and on-demand compliance reports for the PDO and authorities.
PM-WANI network architecture: from village hotspot to AAA and IPDR backend
How a villager gets online on PM-WANI Wi-Fi
- DiscoverThe user opens any PM-WANI app, which lists nearby WANI-compliant hotspots run by the PDO.
- Verify onceOne-time sign-up with mobile OTP through the App Provider; a signed user token is issued.
- ConnectThe phone joins the PM-WANI SSID and lands on Winet's PDOA captive portal.
- Buy a planPick a voucher from ₹6 or a daily / weekly / monthly unlimited pack; pay by UPI or shop voucher.
- AuthenticateWinet's AAA server validates the token and plan and opens the session with the right speed profile.
- Log & accountRADIUS accounting and IPDR / NAT records are written for every session and retained in India.
Compliance built into the PM-WANI platform, not added later
For a PDO, compliance risk is the single biggest reason to avoid public Wi-Fi. Winet, as the registered PDOA, carries that responsibility and keeps the deployment audit-ready.
DoT-registered PDOA
Winet Infratel operates as a registered Public Data Office Aggregator under the DoT PM-WANI framework.
C-DOT Central Registry
PDOA software integrated with the Central Registry; every PDO, access point, SSID and location is registered before going live.
Verified users only
Every user is verified by mobile OTP through a PM-WANI App Provider and validated with signed tokens on the AAA server.
IPDR & usage logs for 1 year+
Session, IP, NAT port and data records stored for at least one year, as required by the PM-WANI security conditions.
Data stored within India
All user data, AAA records and IPDR logs are hosted on servers located in India, with role-based access and audit trails.
Privacy by design
User data is kept confidential, used only for service and legal compliance, and handled in line with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
Lawful request readiness
IPDR searches by user, IP, port and time window allow fast, accurate responses to authorised requests from law enforcement agencies.
Data-only service
The hotspot provides internet data.
From a few hundred users to 3,000+ on PM-WANI Wi-Fi
Adoption started slowly — many residents had never used Wi-Fi before — then accelerated as word spread that the village hotspot was cheaper and faster than mobile data and stayed on all day and night.
First hotspots go live 500+ users
Access points at the market, the PDO's shop and near the school. Early users were students and shopkeepers; on-site help desks walked first-timers through OTP sign-up.
Daily and weekly packs take off 1,250+ users
Unlimited daily packs replaced pay-per-MB thinking. Coverage was extended to residential lanes and the bus stand.
Village-wide coverage 2,100+ users
More PM-WANI access points added on rooftops and poles; AAA speed profiles tuned for evening peak hours when families come online together.
Always-on village internet 3,000+ users
Monthly unlimited plans became the most popular choice, keeping households online 24x7. Growth continues as neighbouring hamlets connect.
How affordable PM-WANI internet bridged the digital divide in the village
Cheap, unlimited public Wi-Fi changed internet from an occasional luxury into an everyday utility — available to every household, 24x7.
Students & online learning
Students attend online classes, watch recorded lectures, download study material and prepare for competitive exams without exhausting the family's limited mobile data.
Farmers & agriculture
Farmers check weather forecasts, crop advisories and mandi prices, and access agricultural schemes and portals from the village itself.
Shops & digital payments
Local shops accept UPI reliably, order stock online and reach customers on messaging apps, growing the village's digital economy.
Government services
Residents apply for certificates, scholarships and welfare schemes, and use DigiLocker and other e-governance services without travelling to town.
Health & telemedicine
Families use teleconsultation services and health apps, and stay in touch with doctors in nearby towns over video calls.
Families & migrant workers
Households video-call relatives working in other states every evening — affordably and without call drops.
PM-WANI deployment specifications
The platform is designed so a village PDO can start with a handful of access points and scale to thousands of users without changing the backend.
| Access layer | PM-WANI compliant dual-band outdoor & indoor Wi-Fi access points, WANI beacon / SSID |
|---|---|
| Backhaul | Fibre broadband from licensed ISP at the PDO gateway |
| Authentication | PM-WANI App Provider with mobile OTP, signed user tokens |
| AAA | Winet AAA / RADIUS cluster, high availability, CoA / disconnect support, per-plan speed & quota policies |
| Logging | IPDR server with RADIUS accounting, NAT / port mapping, MAC and session records; ≥ 1-year retention in India |
| Portal & billing | PDOA captive portal, UPI gateway, prepaid vouchers, PDO reseller dashboard |
| Operations | 24x7 NMS monitoring, AP health alerts, growth & usage analytics, compliance reports |
| Plans | From ₹6 vouchers to daily, weekly and monthly unlimited packs with fair usage |
Lessons from a successful rural PM-WANI rollout
- Start small, grow with demand — a few well-placed hotspots proved the model before expansion.
- Price for always-on use — unlimited daily and monthly packs drove adoption far faster than per-MB pricing.
- Local language and hand-holding — a localized PDO custom portal and in-person sign-up help converted first-time users.
- Compliance handled by the PDOA — the PDO ran a business, Winet ran the AAA, IPDR and regulatory stack.
- Reliable backend — a highly available AAA server kept the service up through evening peaks.
PM-WANI public Wi-Fi: frequently asked questions
What is PM-WANI?
PM-WANI (Prime Minister's Wi-Fi Access Network Interface) is the DoT framework, approved in December 2020, that lets local entrepreneurs run public Wi-Fi hotspots as Public Data Offices (PDOs) without a licence fee, aggregated by registered PDOAs and listed on the C-DOT Central Registry.
What does a PDOA do?
A Public Data Office Aggregator registers with DoT, onboards PDOs, runs the captive portal and AAA (authorisation and accounting), sells data plans, registers access points with the Central Registry, and stores user data and logs in India for at least one year.
Why are AAA and IPDR servers needed?
The AAA / RADIUS server authenticates users, enforces plans and accounts for usage. IPDR logging records which user held which IP address and port at what time, meeting DoT security conditions and enabling responses to lawful requests.
How did the village reach 3,000+ users?
It launched with a few hotspots, reached a few hundred users in the first three months through word of mouth, local banner advertsing and low-cost vouchers, then expanded coverage across the village to cross 3,000 registered users within about a year.
Can I become a PM-WANI PDO with Winet?
Yes. Shops, cooperatives, CSCs and local entrepreneurs can become PDOs. Winet provides the compliant access points, AAA, IPDR, portal, payments and support.
Launch compliant PM-WANI public Wi-Fi in your village or town
Become a PDO with Winet Infratel — PM-WANI compliant access points, AAA / RADIUS, IPDR logging, captive portal and 24x7 support, all in one managed platform.
Village and PDO identity withheld at the PDO's request. PM-WANI is a framework of the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India. © Winet Infratel Pvt. Ltd.