Net Neutrality, the Real Issue

The strict interpretation of Net Neutrality that requires treating each bit of data equally ignores the reality of how networks are designed and how consumers use it.

The term ‘Net Neutrality’ was coined by Columbia University media law professor Tim Wu in 2003. He predicted the conflicts between telcos and OTT players in a competitive innovative environment centered on the Internet. He said, the best way to describe the term is when designing a network: a public information network will end up being most useful if all content, sites, and platforms are treated equally.

The GSMA in its submission to Trai notes that there are several interpretations of the term “Net Neutrality”. The strict interpretation that all data is equal has given way to the more realistic view that networks carry different types of traffic and therefore prohibiting traffic management practices can be counter-productive.

A broader view of the term “Net Neutrality” refers to the principle that the internet should be an open platform for freedom of expression, innovation and socia-economic development. Mobile operators are committed to maintaining the open internet. Managing network traffic and offering different service packages do not contradict this belief in the open internet. Without managing data traffic, operators cannot efficiently meet consumers’ demands to access different types of applications and services through their mobile connections. Forcing them, through Net Neutrality regulations, to be detached from their network traffic is neither operationally practical nor necessary.

Networks are designed to carry different types of traffic that cannot be treated equally. Internet Protocol (IP) based networks have been designed to route IP data packets according to their performance characteristics. Packet delivery needs to take into account multiple characteristics - type of traffic, destination of packet, availability of routing options, network propagation environment, etc. For example, time sensitive services such as voice calls and video conferencing should be prioritized over delay-tolerant services such as file sharing and emails to meet the consumer expectations of different services and to support critical communication needs.

Traffic management has been used in previous generation of networks and the need is greater than before due to the wider variety of services with different requirements. Similar to the