Net Neutrality: Airtel’s new apps plan may go against PM Modi’s Digital India vision

NEW DELHI: The political class jumped into the burning issue of net neutrality with Parliamentarians Tathagata Satpathy and Rajeev Chandrasekhar saying that any move to allow telecom operators to charge subscribers separately for using some apps would restrict people's access to Internet and go against the Prime Minister's vision of Digital India.

In a recent letter to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Chairman Rahul Khullar, Satpathy, an MP from Odisha representing the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), backed the concept of net neutrality, which envisages that service providers will treat all data on the Internet equally and not impose differential pricing or discriminate among users, content sites, platforms and apps, also known as over-the-top (OTT) services.

“You (Trai) have asked for suggestions about charging separately for OTT services. I see this as a detrimental move that is putting conditions on the access of Internet,” Satpathy wrote.

The letter comes in the wake of Trai initiating a consultation paper on whether the OTT services, which are delivered over the network of mobile phone operators, should be licensed or regulated. The regulator has asked stakeholders to send in suggestions by April 24, while counter-arguments need to be submitted by May 8. Trai may then come out with its recommendations on the subject.

Chandrasekhar, an independent member of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, voiced his support for the concept of free internet, tweeting, “#NetNeutrality ensures non-discriminatory access to services to all consumers, and is core to #DigitalIndia”. He followed up by tweeting that the Internet is “too important to let private players to be the ones making the rules.”

According to BJD’s Satpathy, even the United Nations had said back in 2011 that restricting access to the Internet could count as human rights violation. “If this decision by the Trai goes through, it will only go directly against the Prime Minister’s dream but also against the desires of those who wish to make India a modern nation”.

He said telecom companies were seeing an opportunity to make more money by regulating the Internet, by signing deals and giving certain apps free access. “This move will essentially kill any new startups that don’t have enough resources to get permission from Trai or tie-up with big telecom companies,” he added.

He was referring to recent moves by telcos to offer some apps for free to their users. Critics say the move is aimed at creating two types of Internet — free and paid — and goes against the principle of net neutrality. Telcos like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Uninor, Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices have tie-ups in offering preferential access to a few apps. This in effect means that the app makers will pay for customer's free usage to the operator, while those who can't afford to pay won't get preferential access. The companies though deny any bias.

Satpathy has also requested for a complete overhaul of information technology and communication laws in the country after proper consultations with all stakeholders. “The advent of social media, its impact and growth, possibilities of improving online markets, privacy laws and encryption, the whole gamut of issues need to be addressed.”

Chandrasekhar said disruptive technologies cannot be denied to consumers to protect telcos. For long, net neutrality was largely considered an issue in the developed world. The subject was thrown into the spotlight in India late last year when Bharti Airtel tried to charge higher tariffs for phone calls made through various calling apps such as Viber and Skype on its network using Internet, violating the net neutrality principle.

India’s largest telco was then forced to withdraw the plan, largely due to a hue and cry over the social media.