“Internet.org has many initiatives, and we will keep working until everyone has access to the internet”, Zuckerberg said in a post on the Facebook yesterday, his first reaction to the ruling of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on net neutrality.
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Facebook also engineered a prompt to users that sent “robo” letters of support for Free Basics to India’s telecom regulator. The rules will be in place for two years and could be open for review at that time.
Free Basics was blocked temporarily in India last December while TRAI considered its next steps. Without defining Net neutrality, you (Trai) have jumped on tariff plans… Critics of Free Basics, which had been suspended while the regulator’s consultation was continuing, include many of India’s leading technology entrepreneurs, with activists describing it as a “poor Internet for poor people”.
Zuckerberg launched the program to great fanfare in 2013, partnering with other global tech firms on a mission to connect the 4 billion people in the world without Internet – which he says is a basic human right.
He had been among the program’s fiercest critics, dubbing Free Basics “poor Internet for poor people” and comparing Facebook’s actions to that of British colonialists and their East India Company.
“Essentially everything on the Internet is agnostic in the sense that it can not be priced differently”, TRAI chairman Ram Sevak Sharma said at a news conference.
“While formulating the Regulations, the Authority has largely been guided by the principles of Net Neutrality seeking to ensure that consumers get unhindered and non-discriminatory access to the internet”, TRAI said. “While disappointed with the outcome, we will continue our efforts to eliminate barriers and give the unconnected an easier path to the internet and the opportunities it brings”, a Facebook spokesman said.
A critical examination of the whole scenario may reveal that the Free Basics service was doomed to fail from the word go.
On Monday, Facebook issued a statement, saying that their goal was to bring people online on an open, free, nonexclusive platform.
Observing that the ruling would enable all netizens to have non-discriminatory access to internet, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) telecom leader Arpita Pal Agrawal said innovative ways had to be found to make every Indian access the net and bridge the digital divide.
Telecom operators see Trai’s regulations as “an attack on their freedom” to approach the market and expect adverse impact on expanding connectivity in the country.
The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said it had concerns on the exception as to how this entire thing will pan out.
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Ruling against discriminatory pricing for different data platforms or content, TRAI said operators can not enter into pacts with Internet companies to subsidise access to some websites. The technology giant had mounted a campaign via newspapers and text messages in India, asking people to lobby the regulator not to bar Free Basics.
