24 Jun 2015
Net Neutrality: Govt report expected this week; here’s a timeline showing how it all began
In the past we’ve seen several verbal assurances about how TRAI and the DoT are in support of Net Neutrality in India. A new report by The Times of India now states that the government may soon go public and most likely this week on its decision to support net neutrality, which means the Internet would be equal for all without any discrimination or prioritisation.
If you remember, a six-member panel, headed by AK Bhargava, had been set up to submit a report on net neutrality. The DoT report is at the Prime Minister’s Office and reportedly ‘will be used to form framework for the government policy’ on net neutrality. It will also include recommendations from the telecom regular that are yet to be submitted to DoT.
A person familiar with the matter told the news site, “A panel has the taken the views of all the stakeholders before submitting it to the telecom minister. There were a few critical points of debate such as allowing zero rating plans or not. The report will back the government’s stand unequivocally.”
It was just last week that the US telecom regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, fined AT&T ($100-million) for intentionally slowing down internet speeds for its unlimited data subscribers after they consume a specific amount of data. The FCC, proded by the US president Barack Obama supported net neutrality in the US.
The DoT report will be made public while the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is still preparing its own report.
In the past couple of months, a lot has been said and written about net neutrality in India. It was Airtel who created quite a stir with its new Zero marketing platform. However, massive outrage forced its partner Flipkart to walk out of Airtel Zero. Soon companies like Cleartrip and NDTV walked out of Facebook’s Internet.org, a platform almost similar to Airtel Zero.
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