Throughout the era of rapid expansion in public WiFi, India has usually lagged behind in freeing up licence-exempt spectrum. A decade ago, the number of WiFi hotspots in the huge country was tiny compared to most other markets. In recent years, the pace has picked up considerably, and operators have been reducing the cost of their wireless broadband build-outs – and compensating for small cellular spectrum allocations – by turning to WiFi. This has also been accelerated by Google’s build-outs of hotspots, many around railway stations, and efforts by government-backed initiatives and industrial players. Progress on the regulatory side is still slow compared to many other countries, however. The Indian government has only now freed up significant amounts of spectrum…