Net neutrality

[talwan]

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The internet is changing India. For the first time there is a platform that gives equal opportunity for everyone to gain knowledge and reap economic benefits. TRAI, the government telecom regulatory body is proposing to change this by allowing telecom companies to allow preferential access to websites. If this is allowed, companies will be allowed to charge extra for commonly used services like whatsapp, youtube, web based voice calling and many more.

Over 2 lakhs Netizens registered their protest against the TRAI move.

 

[sarang]

Flipkart has already cancelled its deal with Airtel after loud protest from netizens.

 

[talwan]

• ‘Airtel Zero’ is against net neutrality. Operator (Airtel) can’t control which apps to use and which app not to use
• Smaller enterprises will not be able to pay for operator’s data fee. This will lead to an unhealthy collusion between big enterprises and the operator.
• Why should an operator dictate to the customer which sites to go to? This is against the spirit of fair competition.
• The operator will block or throttle the speed of those enterprises sites who don’t sign up with Airtel Zero.
• Just like electricity and water are user-agnostic, so should be the Internet services. Electricity distribution companies charge consumers based upon the units they consume and not on the basis of whether they used those units for heating water or ironing clothes. Water distributions companies also charge the consumers based upon the quantum of water used, irrespective of whether the water was used for bathing or for washing clothes. Similarly, Internet providers should charge users for the data used and this should have nothing to do with the sites against which the data was consumed.
• If at all an operator wants to benefit customers, it should offer certain MBs free and allow the customer to choose the sites they want to enter.