Tuesday, 14 April 2015 - 7:00am IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: dna | From the print edition
Despite a few misadventures, telcos including Bharti Airtel, Uninor and Reliance Communications are testing the waters by entering into tie-ups with e-commerce and social networking partners to provide free apps that could prove to be discriminating against other online players and restrict choices for internet consumers.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has also initiated the process of putting in place guidelines for the Net Neutrality in India after there was a resounding protest against Airtel’s attempt to smother it a month back. It has put a consultation paper on its website and invited public comments and feedback by April 24.
Interestingly, Rajan Mathews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), said in the absence of best global practices, there widespread confusion on the issue.
He, however, said that the representative body of GSM players was all for non-discriminatory use of internet.
G Krishna Kumar, a Bangalore-based telecom professional, had a somewhat different view on the issue. He said India should look at a balanced approach and not blindly imitate the US.
“India certainly needs a clear Net-Neutrality framework, but we need a balanced approach and cannot copy from the US. Even if differential pricing or zero pricing is allowed for certain content, a guaranteed quality of service for accessing internet must be ensured,” he said.
While the US plans a strong Net Neutrality framework, Europe appears to have a contrasting view allowing for preferential treatment.
Krishna Kumar said India had to go for a different model as its market was different with operators getting just one-fifth of the spectrum compared to other countries and was price sensitive. Even in terms of average revenue per user (Arpu), it is less than 10% of the Arpu earned by operators in advanced countries.
Even Sajai Singh of law firm J. Sagar Associates (JSA) believes that the policy makers should not rush into coming out with guidelines without thinking it through.
“Net Neutrality should be thought through before being applied because, in addition to ethical issues, there are basic economic issues involved for the ISP (internet service providers) and any policy or regulation on it should address every interests and aspirations of all stakeholders,” said Sajai Singh of law firm J. Sagar Associates (JSA).
Despite a few misadventures, telcos including Bharti Airtel, Uninor and Reliance Communications are testing the waters by entering into tie-ups with e-commerce and social networking partners to provide free apps that could prove to be discriminating against other online players and restrict choices for internet consumers.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has also initiated the process of putting in place guidelines for the Net Neutrality in India after there was a resounding protest against Airtel’s attempt to smother it a month back. It has put a consultation paper on its website and invited public comments and feedback by April 24.
Interestingly, Rajan Mathews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), said in the absence of best global practices, there widespread confusion on the issue.
He, however, said that the representative body of GSM players was all for non-discriminatory use of internet.
G Krishna Kumar, a Bangalore-based telecom professional, had a somewhat different view on the issue. He said India should look at a balanced approach and not blindly imitate the US.
“India certainly needs a clear Net-Neutrality framework, but we need a balanced approach and cannot copy from the US. Even if differential pricing or zero pricing is allowed for certain content, a guaranteed quality of service for accessing internet must be ensured,” he said.
While the US plans a strong Net Neutrality framework, Europe appears to have a contrasting view allowing for preferential treatment.
Krishna Kumar said India had to go for a different model as its market was different with operators getting just one-fifth of the spectrum compared to other countries and was price sensitive. Even in terms of average revenue per user (Arpu), it is less than 10% of the Arpu earned by operators in advanced countries.
Even Sajai Singh of law firm J. Sagar Associates (JSA) believes that the policy makers should not rush into coming out with guidelines without thinking it through.
“Net Neutrality should be thought through before being applied because, in addition to ethical issues, there are basic economic issues involved for the ISP (internet service providers) and any policy or regulation on it should address every interests and aspirations of all stakeholders,” said Sajai Singh of law firm J. Sagar Associates (JSA).
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