Net Neutrality: Pros And Cons

Why has it become a current issue?

Towards the end of last year, one of India’s largest telecom companies, Bharti Airtel decided to charge subscribers extra for using certain apps like Skype and Viber. These apps compete with the core business of telecom providers (voice and messaging) and are much cheaper (that is, free).

 There was heavy protest from customers, so Airtel delayed its decision, and said it would wait for the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services.  

Later in the year, Facebook brought to India internet.org, a pre-selected list of websites that are offered free to subscribers of Reliance Communications. There wasn’t much controversy at the time.

How are stakeholders responding now?

The discussion picked up when TRAI released its 118 page consultation paper on March 27^th this year. The paper asked the public for its opinion on 20 questions about how to regulate the internet. Some of the questions were about Net Neutrality. By April 14^th, more than 2.4 lakh mails supporting net neutrality had been sent to TRAI through the website savetheinternet.in.

 Celebrities, politicians and comedians all commented on why net neutrality should be maintained. Amid the uproar, Airtel launched a new product on April 6th, Airtel Zero. The product comes with a bunch of apps that have made deals with the Telecom Company. On April 14^th, Flipkart left the platform after initially agreeing to be on it, saying that it wanted to ensure net neutrality.

TRAI will be open for comments till April 24^th, and counter comments till May 8^th.

Also Read: Samsung Plans to Take Bitcoin Technology Beyond Currency Use
Things To Know About Apple's New Update iOS 8.3