With the Net Neutrality debate reaching a crescendo, CNBC-TV18 reached out to understand the viewpoints of both an official of the telecom industry, some of which purportedly supports a “discriminatory” form of the Internet, and a vocal critic of the proposed regime.
The net neutrality debate has arisen in India after telecom giant Airtel recently launched a platform called Zero, on which Internet companies could sign up to allow its users free-of-cost access. But the move was criticized under the pretext that discriminatory treatment of data packets could skew the level-playing field and democratic nature of the Internet.
Commenting that there has been a “lot of misunderstanding” on the subject, Assocham’s telecom council chairman TV Ramachandran said any zero-rated plan on the lines of Airtel’s was “pro-competition” and in favour of consumers.
“There is a misconception that users will have to pay more,” Ramachandran, formerly Vodafone India’s regulatory chief, said, adding that by letting companies reach out to a wider market and subsidising users’ data charges.
What of the criticism that by allowing a large company like Flipkart (one of the original joinees onto the platform – the company later withdrew) will allow it muscle out smaller players who may not what have the financial wherewithal to opt for a similar plan?
Ramachandran said that there were instances that zero-rated plans had also helped startups fight bigger players, citing the example of Slovenian cloud-storage startup Hangar Mapa, which took on larger rival Dropbox by co-opting its users’ data charges (customers would otherwise have had to incur large data charges switching from one cloud to another).
More importantly, such a platform would allow for a more equitable spreading of data costs between consumers and web companies that provide services over the Internet, according to Ramachandran. “Currently, the consumer is paying all the costs,” he said.
He also said cited a US Federal Communication Commission statement, which said that these “…new service offerings, depending on how they are structured, could benefit consumers and competition.”
The FCC, however, has ruled against a move that violated net neutrality principles.
Nikhil Pahwa, founder and editor of digital-media observer MediaNama, who has spearheaded the SaveTheInternet campaign in the country, said that by proposing to put various Internet services on so-called slow or fast lanes, telecom companies would discriminate against small players and “put too much power in the hands of the operators”.
The SaveTheInternet campaign has so far received 5.5 lakh submissions, as part of feedback that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) sought to know consumers’ view on the subject.
Citing the view of Tim-Berners Lee, creator of the worldwide web, who has criticized telcos move to discriminate between how data is used, Pahwa said that any proposal that allows for violation of net neutrality principles will result in reduction of investments in Indian startups, impacting the entrepreneurial growth of the country.
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