India’s two biggest telcos don't want TRAI’s free internet plan. Here’s why it matters

As the uproar over Facebook’s Free Basics and Airtel’s Zero Plan was fading, India’s two largest telecom operators Airtel and Vodafone have questioned TRAI’s proposal to have a non-telco platform offer Indians free internet. The telcos say this could create a monitor to regulate content.

The story so far
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) re-opened the debate on net neutrality recently with a new pre-consultation paper, inviting public discussion on the topic. Previous TRAI papers issued in March 2015, December 2015 and May 2016 have raised questions on free data, differential pricing and net neutrality.

Back in February, TRAI upheld net neutrality and forbid telecom operators from offering discriminatory tariffs for data services. However, in May TRAI came with a new consultation paper that offers ways to offer free internet within the spirit of net neutrality. Seems like the telcos don’t like it.

What is Vodafone/Airtel’s problem?
“If free data can be offered by a non-telecom service provider, then there is no basis or rationale for the authority to exclude the telecom operators, especially in view of the fact that a telecom operator agnostic platform could also indulge in the gate-keeping functions,” the Vodafone representative said to TRAI.

The idea TRAI came up with is to have a telecom agnostic platform which can facilitate app developers to promote their websites by offering incentives to users for making their websites popular. Vodafone argues that if the telecom service provider (TSP) agnostic platform is to be regulated, “then why can a similar platform not be offered by TSPs who already operate under a regulatory framework.”

Vodafone said that while TRAI can regulate a TSP and not a non-TSP. Hence, if any such free data framework is to be developed, it should be structured through TSPs.

Airtel said it’s untrue that TSPs try to curb the freedom of the internet. It said that telcos hold a valid telecom licence, and only they can have a business under India’s regulatory framework.

Why is this important?
If telcos get to charge WhatsApp, Skype and Viber for voice-calling over the internet, or any other services, these apps would be forced to charge Indians to make up for this loss. Only the telcos stand to gain from this case, especially because whether it is voice calling or texting, data over the internet is treated the same.

Also, now that India is picking up momentum in terms of startups, this move is likely to trigger an anti-competitiveness where the big players would get bigger, and the smaller ones would suffer unnecessarily. Net neutrality is good for startups. Period.

Why should we be worried?
There’s a tight rope between judicious traffic management and unfair interference, and a naïve customer might not be able to make one from the other. Power in the hands of ISPs has never turned out well consumers globally. Think Netflix-Comcast.

In case you don’t know, few years back, Comcast deliberately dropped Netflix speeds in the US. This forced the video-streaming company to pay money to Comcast. In case you don’t want your video-streaming speeds to drop one night, you know what to do.

Image credit: Indiatimes