Net neutrality gets big boost from Trai

‘OPEN AND FREE INTERNET’ Nobody owns the platform, it is everybody’s property, cannot be cannibalised: Regulator

Navadha Pandey letters@hindustantimes.com n

NEWDELHI: India’s telecom regulator has backed an open and free internet, saying internet service providers cannot discriminate on how people access web content.

In its recommendations issued on Tuesday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) upheld the concept of so-called net neutrality and said no Internet Service Provider (ISP) can grant preferential data speeds or treatment to any web content.

“A licensee providing Internet Access Service shall not engage in any discriminatory treatment of content, including based on the sender or receiver, the protocols being used or the user equipment,” Trai said in its muchawaited recommendations.

The global debate over net neutrality revolves around whether ISPs should be treated like public utilities to ensure the internet is open and free, or be allowed to prioritise access to content of their choosing for an extra fee from websites and services.

India’s stand on net neutrality contrasts that of the US telecom and broadcasting regulator whose Indian-origin chief Ajit Pai is backing a plan to end unhindered and non-discriminatory access to the internet, a controversial proposal first spotlighted by online giant Facebook’s internet.org and Free Basic offer in 2015.

The Indian regulator, however, exempt certain “specialised services”, defined by the telecom ministry, from its new guidelines so long as it did not violate the principles of net neutrality.

It suggested the government change rules for granting licences to ISPs and set up a monitoring body to ensure net neutrality.

Trai has also kept so-called content delivery networks (CDNs) out of the scope of its regulation. CDNs allow telecom companies to deliver content within their network without going through the public internet.