Business News
Net neutrality: India takes a giant step ahead; this interactive map shows where other nations stand
No blocking, no degrading, no slowing down, no preferential speed, India just showed the way to the Net Neutrality law as the Telecom Regulatory recommended upholding its basic principle: the internet is an open platform.
No blocking, no degrading, no slowing down, no preferential speed, India just showed the way to the Net Neutrality law as the Telecom Regulatory recommended upholding its basic principle: the internet is an open platform. As the world debates and discusses Net Neutrality, these recommendations, if accepted, can set India’s foot miles ahead of other countries, even the United States.
In February 2016, TRAI ruled in favour of net neutrality by prohibiting discriminatory tariffs for data after an extended campaign by internet activists, who argued that Facebook’s Free Basics platform and other offerings by Indian telecom companies violated net neutrality principles.
Its consultation paper on the subject floated in January this year, which got an overwhelming response by people on upholding net neutrality, had majorly focused on network speed so that telecom operators do not use it for any preferences or prevent access to any website or service like voice calls which requires decent net speed. Organised by the SavetheInternet.in, nearly 2.5 million people provided public comments to TRAI on net neutrality.
While India is looking for an egalitarian approach for the internet access, the US, which had adopted Net Neutrality in 2015, is looking to repeal the law on December 16. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Ajit Pai followed through on a pledge to try to repeal “Net neutrality” regulations enacted under the Obama administration. “Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the Internet,” he said in a statement recently.
