TRAI Rules in Favor of Net Neutrality, Supports Free Internet

There has been a lot of buzz around net neutrality and Free Basics in India, and around the world as well. This, combined with Facebook’s promise to provide services to people not connected to the internet (called Free Basics), made the #NetNeutrality hashtag the ‘most trending’ hashtag all day.

Now, however, the debate has ended. TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) supports the freedom of the internet and does not support programs like Free Basics. The ‘internet watchdog’ of India stated that no company has the right to offer or charge tariffs for services based on content. Plus, any company found violating the stipulations would be charged a fine of Rs.50000 per day, going up to Rs.50 lakh.

"No service provider shall enter into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that has the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being offered or charged by the service provider for the purpose of evading the prohibition in this regulation," stated a statement by TRAI.

Facebook launched a program, called Free Basics (previously Internet.org), that offers a free Facebook-approved portion of the Internet in just about 19 countries. The program partners with telecom operators and provides free usage for specific services on the internet. This sparked a heated debate, with people stating the program violates Net Neutrality principles.

Ever since, Facebook has been campaigning an aggressive campaign to make people support the Free Basics program, using online petitions and billboard advertising. The company partnered with Reliance to provide Free Basics across India. However, now the social media giant will have to terminate its partnership with Reliance, as TRAI (previously having instructed Facebook to put the partnership on hold). Even Flipkart has tried to work with Airtel to provide unrestricted access to Flipkart and other apps.

"Our goal with Free Basics is to bring more people online with an open, non-exclusive and free platform. While disappointed with the outcome, we will continue our efforts to eliminate barriers and give the unconnected an easier path to the internet and the opportunities it brings," Facebook said.

To sum it up, no operator can offer differential pricing schemes for different types of content. This means that operators cannot charge different rates for WhatsApp calls as compared to instant messages, nor can any operator give preference to any app in particular with regard to the internet. Data is data, and will only be measured in terms of megabytes or gigabytes provided by the telecom operator.

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