Net Neutrality: All You Need to Know

What wrong Flipkart and Airtel seem to be doing?

It may look like a great idea that one can access the app free of data costs, but the strategy is being unfair to the other e-Com applications like Snapdeal and Amazon. If a consumer is given free access to certain app they would obviously gravitate towards that over the others like Snapdeal or Amazon. Airtel however says that it is being non-discriminatory as other apps too can sign up with Airtel Zero for same prizes. But since these startups are financially stable, they can afford Airtel Zero, but what about the others who cannot afford it? And what about the users of other networks like Vodafone or Idea?

This is how Airtel and Flipkart violated the net neutrality. Since other networks do not have platforms like Airtel Zero, the app developers and users will gravitate towards Airtel. Also other networks might soon follow the lead of Airtel if the regulators do not intervene rightly.

On a larger Picture this trend if taken further may take us to a world where Snapdeal works better on Vodafone and Amazon could work better on Idea. Such services will eventually be known as ‘zero rated’ services which is unhealthy for the budding e-Commerce industry.

Also Read: Net Neutrality: Will Internet Be A Luxury For Indians With Airtel Zero?
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