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TRAI rules in favour of Net Neutrality

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Facebook

New Delhi: “No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content,” says TRAI.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday issued the ‘Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016’ that bars service providers from offerring or charging discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content.

A service provider may reduce tariff for accessing or providing emergency services, the body ruled. TRAI may review these regulations after a period of two years.

TRAI will also levy a penalty of Rs. 50,000 a day for discriminatory tariffs charged by service providers.

This comes amid an ongoing debate over net neutrality in the country.

Earlier, the regulatory body had issued two consulation papers – one in December 2016 aboutdifferential data pricing and the one in early 2015 about over-the-top (OTT) services.

The consultation paper on differential data pricing had raised concern over zero-rating tariff models — a practice wherein service providers offer free data to users for select applications and websites — and the paper had become key to the debate on Net neutrality.

According to Internet activists, this model violates the principle of Net neutrality as it restricts access to free, open Internet. Facebook’s Free Basic initiative has come under severe criticism in India as it is based on a zero-rating model.

TRAI has also asked Reliance Communication, Facebook’s partner in India for Free Basics, to put the service on hold till the authority considers all the details and terms and conditions of the service.

(Agencies)

TRAI slams Facebook over ‘diversion’, company hits back

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Facebook

New Delhi: A day before the open house discussion on differential pricing of data, a full-scale war of words has broken out between telecom regulator TRAI and social network Facebook over the Net neutrality debate.

Terming Facebook’s action as diversionary, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said the whole consultation exercise has been reduced to “a crudely majoritarian and orchestrated poll”.

“Neither the spirit nor the letter of a consultative process warrants such an interpretation which, if accepted, has dangerous ramifications for policy-making in India,” TRAI said in its letter to Facebook on January 18.

According to the regulator, the campaign by Facebook to defend its free Internet platform Free Basics in India is “wholly misplaced” as “the consultation paper is on differential pricing for data services and not on any particular product or service”.

Facebook India on January 20 responded to TRAI’s allegations, saying it’s being singled out. “We would note that we are not aware of a similar request (from TRAI) having been made to any other commentator who did not answer these specific questions,” it said in the reply.

“And we continue to believe that the original comments submitted were responsive to the general questions raised in the consultation paper, which clearly covers such topics as the Free Basics programme,” Facebook Public Policy Director for India, South and Central Asia Ankhi Das said.

TRAI also spoke of “the self-appointed spokesmanship”, in which “you have not been authorised by your users to speak on behalf of them collectively”. The regulator went on to say that despite giving an opportunity to people who shared their views through the Facebook platform, “text of TRAI’s communication was not in turn conveyed by you (Facebook) to those who had sent responses to TRAI using your platform”.

It all goes back to December 2014 when Airtel decided to charge separately for Internet-based calls, but withdrew the plan later after facing protest. The debate heated up after Airtel launched its free Internet platform Airtel Zero and Facebook followed suit with its Internet.org, which was later rechristened as Free Basics.

TRAI has started a public consultation on whether plans or schemes allowing differential pricing of the Internet based on its usage should be allowed or not. This is the first consultation paper from TRAI which has received maximum comments — around 24 lakh — till January 7, the deadline which was extended from the earlier December 30.

The social network behemoth claims that the number of comments in support of Free Basics to be more than 1.35 crore as against TRAI’s official figure of around 24 lakh. Facebook thinks that “someone with access to designated TRAI e-mail account appears to have blocked receipt of all e-mails from Facebook”.

In a separate letter addressed to TRAI, Facebook said it found that “on December 17 at 5.51.53 GMT, an individual with access to the TRAI e-mail account designated to accept comments took action that blocked Facebook from delivering any additional e-mail”. The regulator has cited a similar instance of user complaint on non-functioning of an e-mail address during the response period, which was “brought to its notice and the situation was immediately rectified”.

“It is surprising that it took over 25 days for you to inform TRAI about this,” TRAI said in the January 18 letter. According to TRAI Chairman R S Sharma, the regulator will firm up its views on differential pricing of data services by the end of this month.

(Agencies)

Manmohan Singh warned me of harm in 2G issue: TRAI Chairman

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Pradeep-Baijal-Manmohan-Singh

New Delhi: Yet another book has come out damning the previous UPA government with former TRAI Chairman Pradip Baijal alleging that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had warned him of harm if he did not cooperate on 2G telecom licenses.

An accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case, he also claimed that the CBI wanted him to “implicate” Arun Shourie and Ratan Tata in the case. In his self-published book, The Complete Story of Indian Reforms: 2G, Power and Private Enterprise — A Practitioner’s Diary, Mr. Baijal, who was appointed head of the telecom watchdog by the NDA government in 2003, said the 2G scam trail began under UPA’s Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran regime.

“They (CBI) had warned me in each case that I would be harmed if I didn’t cooperate. Incidentally, this was exactly what the eminent economist Prime Minister had told me would happen if I did not cooperate in their scheme of things in the 2G case,” Mr. Baijal writes in an apparent reference to 2G case and disinvestment issues.

There were no immediate comments available from the former Prime Minister, while Mr. Baijal told PTI, “I have said everything. It is 100 per cent correct and I have evidence to prove everything.”

This is the third book in last more than a year that has come to haunt Dr. Singh and his government about state of affairs during his regime. The first book was written by his aide and media advisor Sanjaya Baru and later by former coal secretary P.C. Parekh who is also an accused in the case relating to coal blocks allocation.

Mr. Baijal said he was “not treated properly” after he gave recommendations on the unified licensing regime. “That led to many problem and that led to adverse inference against me by the ruling party then. When I met Prime Minister late, he said that you must listen to your Minister and you must take his view in to consideration. I said his view will get me in to lot of trouble,” he said.

Mr. Maran, who was Telecom Minister in UPA I from May 2004 to 2007, threatened Mr. Baijal with “serious consequences” if he gave recommendations on Unified Licences that would have replaced the old system of giving out permits on first-come-first-serve basis. “Dayanidhi Maran told me in my first meeting with him not to give Unified Licensing recommendations as directed by the Cabinet of the previous government. He further indicated that there would be serious consequences if I did,” Mr. Baijal wrote.

When he took up the matter with the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he wrote that “The PM also told me to cooperate with my Minister in the coalition government he headed, since non-cooperation could compromise his government.”

Mr. Baijal said that both Mr. Maran and his successor A. Raja suppressed his recommendations and sold spectrum to “a selected few without following any rules or procedures.”

He claimed that CBI wanted him to implicate Ratan Tata and Arun Shourie. Mr. Baijal writes that Mr. Maran knew exactly about discussion between him and Dr. Singh.

“I can only surmise that they were all working in tandem possibly along with the PM, Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal at different stages and were guiding the CBI enquiry, getting files removed and, making false statements in the media to make a case against the erstwhile TRAI.”

Mr. Baijal has alleged that Ratan Tata in 2004 informed him that “he was being threatened by Dayanidhi Maran that unless he accepted the merger of Tata Sky with Sun TV, he would ruin him. Ratan Tata refused to cooperate. They would alternatively threaten to harm me and my family and then dangle a carrot of sparing me if I implicated Ratan Tata and Arun Shourie,” he wrote.

Mr. Baijal said that his recommendation was meant to replace Unified Access Services Licence that were allocated with spectrum but TRAI’s “recommendation was not considered and the old regime continued which led to 2G scam later.”

The recommendation on UL was followed by another recommendation on spectrum related issues in May, 2005 that suggested bidding of spectrum in case adequate spectrum is not identified despite best efforts.

He said that bidding process must be avoided in view of the existing high burden of license fee, service tax, spectrum charges, etc. “Had I cooperated with Dayanidhi Maran and the PM, I would have been in jail today, held guilty for the 2G scam,” Mr. Baijal said.

Mr. Baijal said that he flagged issue of Mr. Maran being appointed as Minister as he is also a broadcaster but the “PM dismissed the concerns with serious argument that there is no conflict of since TRAI was an independent regulator.”

(Agencies)

Congress seeks probe into TRAI releasing 1 mn e-mail IDs

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TRAI

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday asked the government to investigate as to why the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) put up on its website the names of over one million people who had written to it on net neutrality.

Raising the issue during zero hour in the Lok Sabha, Congress member Gaurav Gogoi said: “TRAI putting up the list of names and e-mail addresses of net activists on its website is akin to a bank making the account details of its customers public.”

“This will expose these net activists to hackers,” he said.

Gogoi asked the government to probe as to why and who in the TRAI had leaked the names.

TRAI on Tuesday released the names and email IDs of over one million people who gave their comments on the consultation paper on net neutrality.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had last week accused the government of floating a “trial balloon” on net neutrality even as Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said his regime was in favour of free and fair access to the World Wide Web.

Network neutrality, or open inter-working, means that in accessing the World Wide Web, one is in full control over how to go online, where to go and what to do as long as these are lawful.

It advocates that firms that provide internet services should treat all lawful internet content in a neutral manner.

(IANS)

Indian companies back out of Facebook’s Internet.org to protect net neutrality

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Internet.org

Washington: As the debate on net neutrality in India heats up, several Indian firms are pulling out of Internet.org, a charity headed by Facebook to help spread internet access to parts of the world where many people lack connectivity.

After NDTV, Newshunt, and the Times Group pulled out some or all of their services from Internet.org due to concerns over net neutrality, travel website Cleartrip has become the latest firm to exit the deal, citing same concerns, reported The Verge.

The concept of net neutrality had been a hotly debated topic in the United States last month as the FCC adopted more stringent rules. The issue is now being widely debated in India too.

Mobile network operator Airtel, along with local startups, had been planning on creating a platform where startups would pay for data usage, making their services free for users. However, this would be similar to the sponsored data initiatives seen in the U.S., which the FCC recently categorized as an unacceptable form of “paid prioritization.” Internet.org worked the same way as it provided users free access to a selection of 39 “essential” services, including Facebook.

The discussion surrounding the topic has raised several questions like, why Internet.org is being publicised as a charity rather than a business venture and whether it will impinge on net neutrality in an attempt to spread internet access.

(IANS)

#NetNeutrality: Flipkart walks away from Airtel Zero platform

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net-neutrality

New Delhi/Bengaluru: E-commerce giant Flipkart on Tuesday said it is “walking away” from the platform Airtel Zero and is committed to the larger cause of net neutrality.

“We at Flipkart have always strongly believed in the concept of net neutrality, for we exist because of the Internet,” a statement issued by the e-commerce company said.

“We will be walking away from the ongoing discussions with Airtel for their platform Airtel Zero. We will be committing ourselves to the larger cause of net neutrality in India. We will be internally discussing over the next few days, the details of actions we will take to support the cause,” the statement added.

Bharti Airtel recently launched Airtel Zero, an open marketing platform that will allow customers to access mobile applications at zero data charges.

Flipkart stated that over the past few days, there has been a great amount of debate, “both internally and externally, on the topic of zero rating, and we have a deeper understanding of the implications”.

In a series of tweets, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal said he was all for #Net Neutrality.

“I spend time/money helping start-ups in India. I will never support things which suffocate innovation,” Bansal claimed in a tweet.

Observing that zero rated apps for limited time were not against net neutrality, Bansal said such apps could not be sustained for long as costs and competition were very high.

“Zero rating only reduces data costs for users. Fears of a telecom big brother emerging are unfounded. Choice wins. Always,” Bansal tweeted.

Following criticism by twitterati of its proposal to tie-up with Airtel, Flipkart said it was committed to the larger cause of net neutrality.

The company also said it will be working towards ensuring that the spirit of net neutrality is upheld and applied equally to all companies in India irrespective of the size or the service being offered and there is absolutely no discrimination.

Net neutrality means that governments and internet service providers should treat all data on the internet equally – therefore, not charging users, content, platform, site, application or mode of communication differentially.

Amid a huge hue and cry in social media over net neutrality, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Monday that a panel examining the issue will submit its report by the second week of May to help the government take a comprehensive decision on the contentious issue.

The entire process of a committee of experts going into the pros and cons of the issue will benefit the government in making comprehensive decisions, he said.

“This is the reason we are doing it independent of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India),” Prasad added. The six-member panel, which will conduct the study and submit its report, has been set up the department of telecommunications (DoT).

In March, telecom regulator TRAI released a paper inviting comments from users and companies on how over-the-top services should be regulated in the country.

It has asked stakeholders to send suggestions by April 24 and counter-arguments by May 8.

Congress leader Ajay Maken also said that his party supports net neutrality and Internet freedom must not be compromised.

N. Chandramouli, chief executive officer, Trust Research Advisory, publishers of the Brand Trust Report, said: “From a brand point of view we can already see it is impacting and hampering the equation with telecom brands such as Airtel, decided in December 2014 that they would charge more for calls made through services like Skype and Viber, but had to roll back the decision after outrage on social networks.”

(IANS)

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