Internet can’t yet become a level playing field

If you think of the internet as any other utility – power or water – does everyone get the same quality of water across the world? Or the same quality of power? I don’t think so. Similarly, not everyone gets the same quality of internet access.

As a concept, yes, we should have net neutrality, so I agree with the philosophy. However, this logic works only when you look at the issue from a social perspective. But if you are talking about it as a commodity — comparing it to retail for example — the issue becomes very difficult. Since the government doesn’t provide commodities, it shouldn’t get involved with internet services either. But in the future, I think governments should get involved — just like everyone pays the same unit price for electricity, for example, I should get the same broadband width like another company. It shouldn’t be the case that because I can pay more for faster bandwidth, I get better quality.

Yes, access to the internet should be considered a basic human right, but it will take time to provide that access to everyone. While this happens, the prices will fluctuate. Ideally, in the future, everyone should have equal access to the internet and it should be a level playing field. But until then, net neutrality might just get revoked temporarily. From Mr Maisam Zaidi General manager and head of IT at a Dubai-based firm