Net Neutrality: Department of Telecom pushes for disallowing telecom companies’ zero rating plans in its report

NEW DELHI: The telecom department’s much-awaited report on ‘ net neutrality’ is said to have recommended disallowing the controversial zero rating plans of telcos while proposing that throttling and any sort of prioritisation of Internet traffic should be banned by the government.

“There should be no paid prioritisation which creates discrimination and no degradation of traffic on the internet on the basis of applications, content, services or even the end user,” a senior government official privy to the report told ET.

The six-member committee’s report together with the telecom regulator’s recommendation will form the final basis of the government’s policy on net neutrality, a principle that guarantees consumers equal and non-discriminatory access to all data, apps and services on Internet, with no discrimination on the basis of tariffs or speed.

ET had reported in May, that the sixmember government committee concurred that zero-rating plans which involve commercial arrangements at the back-end violate the idea of net neutrality as they seem to provide discriminatory access to select content.

“The government could, of course, make an exemption for delivery of essential government services such as education and health which might be delivered on a priority basis,” the official explained.

The report has further indicated that the policy on net neutrality must promote competition and encourage startup culture in the country, another official told ET. “Competition must be promoted, and not hindered.”

It has also stated that ISPs, including telecom operators, should be disallowed from using ‘traffic management’ as a technique to slow down certain content.

“ISPs, including telecom operators, must be allowed reasonable and legitimate traffic management provided the techniques don’t violate the basic principles of net neutrality,” the second official said.

A fortnight ago, the US telecom regulator, the Federal Communications Commission had slapped a $100-million fine on AT&T alleging the telecom giant was intentionally slowing down internet speeds to its unlimited data subscribers after they consumed a certain amount of data. This, the commission said, amounted to a lack of transparency on the company’s part. Earlier this year, the FCC, prodded by US President Barack Obama, embraced net neutrality.

The DoT committee, set up in January this year, met over 45 organisations including Facebook, Google, Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm, Viber and Skype and telecom service providers as well as various public interest groups before submitting the report.

Its report comes even as the Trai, after finishing a consultation process, is preparing its own report. The consultation, and launch of Bharti Airtel’s Airtel Zero plan — under which certain apps can be accessed by users free of charge, with the app makers paying telco for users’ access — caused a furore, especially on social media.

Bharti Airtel’s plan is what is known as a zero rating plan when the content provider pays the telco for providing free access to users. Critics say such a plan gives a clear advantage to bigger content providers who can afford to pay, against those who cannot. The fate of such plans rests on the final government policy.

The first official said that the report has recommended that any policy on net neutrality should ensure interconnection between ISPs, cellular providers and app makers as needed and as per rules, and the government should intervene only when needed.

He added that the panel has also suggested that the government’s policy on net neutrality must protect the online privacy of individuals and data protection. “The committee very strongly felt that user information should not be disclosed without consent from the user until there is compelling reason such as a legal requirement to do so”.

“In order to implement the policy on net neutrality the government will have to strictly monitor the quality of standards of the networks and even check for congestion,” he said.

Telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea complain growth of apps, especially the ones providing communication services such as Whatsapp and Skype, have been eating into their messaging revenues and now have the potential to hurt their voice revenues, which makes up over 80% of their business. Most telcos said that since the apps offer the same voice services as they do, they must be brought under similar rules, which involve payment of licence fees and meet roll out obligations, as well as security rules.

Supporters of net neutrality though say any move to regulate content providers will stifle innovation. They add that the security rules proposal indirectly seeks to burden innovative application providers by increasing cost of providing services.