Telecom panel clears Net Neutrality
■ Also clears new telecom policy to cater to change
New Delhi, July 11: The Telecom Commission on Wednesday approved Net Neutrality rules which bar service providers from discriminating against Internet content and services by blocking, throttling or granting them higher speed access.
Some mission critical applications or services like remote surgery and autonomous cars will however be kept out of the purview of Net Neutrality framework.
“The Telecom Commission on Wednesday approved net neutrality as recommended by Trai expect some critical services will be kept out of its purview,” telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters here.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had recommended restrictions on service providers from entering into agreements which lead to discriminatory treatment of content on the Internet.
TC also approved the new telecom policy — National Digital Communications Policy 2018 — for seeking approval of the Union Cabinet, Sundararajan said. “Everybody in the meeting today said that digital infrastructure is even more important than physical infrastructure for India... CEO of Niti Ayog ( Amitabh Kant) said that for... Districts, we must ensure digital infrastructure is provided at the earliest. Therefore, India must have ease of doing business and enabling policy environment,” she said.
The Telecom Commission on Wednesday approved net neutrality rules which bar service providers from discriminating against Internet content and services by blocking, throttling or granting them higher speed access.
Some mission critical applications or services like remote surgery and autonomous cars will however be kept out of the purview of net neutrality framework.
“The Telecom Commission ( TC) today approved net neutrality as recommended by Trai expect some critical services will be kept out of its purview,” telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters here. The recommendations would be put before the Union Cabinet for its approval shortly.
The Trai had recommended restrictions on service providers from entering into agreements which lead to discriminatory treatment of content on the Internet.
Net neutrality is considered to be a prerequisite in fostering startups and prevents established companies from monopolising the internet through their financial muscle.
It disallows telecom firms from offering better speeds to any particular companies with any regard to the type, origin or destination of the content. It also prevents telecom companies from slowing down or blocking any website or app.
If any telecom firm violates the net neutrality guidelines, Telecom Commission said it would be a violation of licence conditions.
The TC recommendations are culmination of a debate over net neutrality that started in India two years back in response to Facebook offering free Internet for a pre- selected service websites in tie- up with telecom companies.
Facebook’s move had resulted in a backlash by most of the technology experts and enterpreneurs as they feared that it would be take them out of business.
Telecom industry body COAI, however, reacted cautiously to the development. While reiterating its support for nondiscriminatory use of the Internet, COAI called for a light touch regulatory approach to ensure that “innovation is not hampered by the net neutrality rules”.
“Many of the 5G applications will have stringent data communication requirements, such as high reliability or minimal delay which require traffic management techniques. We have urged the government to review industry practices with respect to traffic prioritisation to foster 5G- enabled applications and eco- system in India,” said Mr Rajan S Mathews, director- general, COAI.
Now that the Commission has approved the recommendations, he said that COAI hopes that the Cabinet will consider the concerns raised by the industry so that the Net Neutrality rules benefit the consumers, incentivise innovation and adoption of new technologies, and enable the seamless spread of state of the art networks and service. New Delhi, July 11: BSNL on Wednesday unveiled the country’s first internet telephony service that will allow users to dial any telephone number in India through its mobile app, starting from July 25.
The company launched the app ‘ Wings’ that will allow customers to make unlimited calls by paying annual fee of ` 1,099 and by using internet service or wi- fi of any telecom operator, to any number.
“In present competitive environment, increase in market share by BSNL is laudable. I congratulate BSNL management for internet telephony which will enable consumers to make call without SIM,” telecom minister Manoj Sinha said.
Currently, voice calls can be made through mobile apps by users of the same app. Registrations will commence in the next couple of days and the service will begin from July 25, BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava said. “Customers will be able to make calls to numbers in India using app even from abroad. The app can be activated using internet anywhere in the world and calls can be made. The fee of ` 1,099 includes unlimited calling within India,” Mr Shrivastava said.
He said the app will be linked to a number that will be issued by BSNL and it is not mandatory for app user to apply for company’s mobile and landline connection separately. “The benefit for existing BSNL landline customers is that they can receive incoming calls on the app irrespective of their location,” he said.