Telcos may seek withdrawal of Trai’s paper on free data

NEW DELHI: Phone companies may seek the withdrawal of a consultation paper issued by the telecom regulator on free data on the grounds that it is too vague and ad hoc in the absence of net neutrality rules that should first be laid down to give clarity to the industry.

The Cellular Operators Association of India ( COAI) will also seek “an extremely light-touch approach” from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( Trai) while “formulating the guidelines of net neutrality,” amid rapid developments in internet technology, said Rajan Mathews, director general of the GSM lobby that represents major telcos Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular besides newcomer Reliance Jio Infocomm.

“Paper(s) of discriminatory pricing and free data are so vague that it (free data) can only receive clarification as a result of the responses,” said Mathews. “It is possible we may ask for the free data proposal to be withdrawn if it conflicts with the net neutrality definition. It will be consistent with our previous position on discriminatory pricing, which ought to have been withdrawn.”

While responding to the paper on free data, COAI may also highlight the Supreme Court’s recent observations on how Trai should not be arbitrary and unreasonable while making rules. That was with reference to penalties for dropped calls.

“One of the points that we are going to highlight is the legal framework in which some of the decision making needs to happen,” Mathews said. He said the Supreme Court’s observations applied broadly to all manner of rule making.

Trai issued a consultation paper on May 19 exploring ways of providing mobile internet access to consumers for free, without violating a ban on discriminatory pricing of data services. It has previously run separate consultations on regulating over-the-top (OTT) applications that provide communication services, discriminatory pricing of data services and a pre-consultation paper on net neutrality. The last date for submitting responses to the free data paper is June 30 and July 5 for the one on net neutrality.

The paper on free data suggested three models to connect the unconnected — a toll-free platform for users where browsing will be free; consumers paying upfront and being subsequently reimbursed; and applications that reward users with incentives such as recharges for data or voice usage. COAI and its counterpart for CDMA players Reliance Communications and Sistema Shyam — Auspi — are trying to hammer out a common response to this paper. At the same time, the GSM lobby is seeking the formulation of net neutrality rules that will govern internet access.

“The government should define the principles of net neutrality. Without defining net neutrality, decision making becomes very ad hoc,” Mathews said.

He pointed to the other consultation papers on various subjects related to aspects of net neutrality, a concept that guarantees free and unbiased access to the internet. The pre-consultation paper on net neutrality in India covers reasonable traffic management practices that telecom service providers would have to follow while providing internet access and the possible ways in which these can be misused.