Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

In Tier-3/4 towns and rural areas in India Wi-Fi coverage is very poor, if not non-existent. Wherever mobile coverage exists, it supports only voice calls and not data traffic. This creates a digital divide for millions of individuals and small business that just do not have access to services that we (in Tier 1 urban areas and anywhere in most developed markets) take for granted.
Network in India is currently limited primarily to Tier-1 and Tier-2 towns along with a few Tier-3 towns. India is a vast country with spread-out Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns and varied environmental factors in play through the year. While network backhaul can be built upto Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns, infrastructure availability and operational management of a Wi-Fi access network is a challenge.
How can we economically roll out Wi-Fi services to these locations? A possible solution would give us new options for network expansion and play a major role in network expansion strategy.
Assuming we can provide centralized internet access to a hub, what solutions would you suggest to create local Wi-Fi networks in these areas, where the population tends to be scattered? Keep in mind the following inherent constraints: Wi-Fi access points need to be secure from theft; power reliability is an issue; hotspots need to be accessible for maintenance and need to offer the best possible coverage.

From the context of being a B-to-B provider, the proposed solution at the minimum must answer the following questions very clearly –
1. What is your proposed solution?
2. Who would you be selling this to i.e. who would be your customers?
3. How must continuous power supply be ensured at the aggregation and Wi-Fi nodes for uninterrupted services?
4. How could Wi-Fi nodes be secured from possible theft of equipment and other paraphernalia while not hampering coverage?
5. What is the best mechanism to maintain the network, ensure high network uptimes and low Mean Time To Resolution (MTTR)?
6. How to make the model scalable to be implemented across the country?
7. What is the cost of the proposed solution(s)? How can the solution(s) be made affordable for the end consumers?
Feel free to attach a supporting presentation, documents, and ensure that you answer the 7 questions mentioned above.
• What are the key assumptions that the implementation team would need to check and how would you advise that they prototype your idea?