On alternative methods/technologies/business models other than differentiated tariff plans Free Basics provides an effective onramp for users to quickly begin accessing the broader Internet.
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This is definitely a huge step in our bid to keeping the internet neutral and shows what exactly the citizens of India want.
An open letter addressed to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was posted to the social media site Wednesday by 30 groups, expressing concern over his efforts to influence the review of Free Basics by the Indian Regulatory Authority (TRAI) on net neutrality grounds.
This was the final poll results as submitted by Local Circles.
More bad news for Facebook’s free internet service, Free Basics: last week the Egyptian government failed to reinstate a permit the service had in Egypt, causing the shut-down of the controversial service that had been supplying a curated version of the internet to millions of people in the country. On measures that FB would adopt to ensure non-discriminated, transparent, affordable Internet access TRAI should consider whether a program helps to expand connectivity and whether the program is free to both users and content providers, non-exclusive for operators, open to all content providers under objective standards, and transparent about its terms and practices. Most of these responses are in support of a specific product, that is, “Free basics’, even though the consultation paper had not raised any issue on such specific product without addressing the questions raised in the consultation paper”, it said. They argue that Free Basics is a walled garden of Facebook-approved content, that it breaches consumer privacy by sucking up all the data generated by users of Free Basics, and that it is anticompetitive to boot.
The letter follows an opinion piece written by Zuckerberg published last month in the Times of India, the country’s largest newspaper, defending Free Basics.
The group of executives in its letter said that differential pricing for access to Internet would lead to just a few players such as Facebook with the Free Basic platform playing the role of gatekeepers. TRAI’s consultation paper is about whether such architecture should be allowed.
Telecom regulator TRAI has received close to 24 lakh comments on its paper on differential data pricing – a key element that forms the core of the raging debate on Net neutrality.
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Critics of the programme say that Facebook’s generosity is a cover for a land-grab. But the regulator says it may have to disregard them, since they do not answer the question it is asking. This falls foul of the concept of net neutrality, which guarantees free and equal access to the Web for all.
