 "Telecom service providers take pro-net neutrality stance")
Telecom service providers Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular among others, have come together claiming support for net neutrality but also demanding uniform rules for all entities offering voice communication services.
Application providers like WhatsApp and Skype offer voice services through an internet platform. The operators, who are under the Cellular Operators Association of India (Coai), made it clear that the Airtel Zero platform, introduced by Bharti Airtel, is just a marketing platform and has nothing to do with net neutrality, as many were confusing it to be.
“We’re pro-consumers. We don’t believe in blocking any site. We are committed to net neutrality. But ‘same services, same rules’ must apply for all players and not just the telecom operators, who have to pay various levies to the government, such as licence fee. The rules should be applicable to over-the-top players who offer voice and text telephony among other services,” Bharti Airtel’s Managing director and Chief Executive Officer (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.
“OTT (over the top) gives us business. As an industry, we love OTT. If rules are same, frankly technology doesn’t matter. The arbitrage between the two has to go otherwise either the investments by the telecom sector will come down or data charges will go up in India, might be six times, just like it has gone up in the US,” he said.
Friday was the last date for comments on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)’s consultation paper on regulation for OTT players.
The telecom sector has invested Rs 750,000 crore over 20 years to set up infrastructure and about Rs 500,000 crore is required as capital expenditure in the next five years compared to only one per cent return on capital. The challenge is to have the same rules for basic communication services offered by all players, Idea Cellular managing director Himanshu Kapania said.
Same rule should apply for same services, including mobile and internet protocol (IP) voice services, as it is the only way to ensure digital inclusion and bring about social and economic good to people.
However, the operators under the umbrella of Coai said they are not demanding licensing rule for OTT players; just the same rules that will govern both.
Other telcos who came to support net neutrality include Telenor, Aircel and Videocon Telecom.
“Let the government decide on a rule and we will follow that… let there be an informed and healthy debate on the issue,” Kapania added.
Other telcos who came to support net neutrality include Telenor, Aircel and Videocon Telecom.
On Wednesday, Nasscom’s President R Chandrasekhar said OTT players do not need licensing regime as they already fall under the ambit of information technology Act. “If applications will be brought under licensing regime, India will not have access to innovative applications and people have no reason to subscribe to Internet packs, and data revenue of telecom operators will also suffer.”
On Friday, Coai announced Sabka Internet, Sabka Vikas, an initiative to connect the 1 billion unconnected citizens in the country through sabkainternet.in.
Till December 2014, there were 85.74 million broadband users and the target is to achieve 175 million broadband connections by 2017, according to Trai.
In terms of ICT access, ICT use and ICT skills India ranks 129th out of 166 countries below Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Bhutan and Kenya. India ranks 125th in the world for fixed broadband penetration, and some of neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Sri Lanka are ahead of India.
According to COAI, internet users are expected to reach over 500 million by 2018, making India the second largest population of Internet users in the world.
Recently, Nasscom said any discrimination in giving access to Internet amounts to violation of freedom of speech and expression. Nasscom is against all platforms that discriminate access to Internet mainly on basis of payments including zero rating plans.
"There is a misconception about its Airtel Zero plan. It is not a tariff proposition but an open-marketing platform that allows any application or content provider to offer its service on a toll-free basis to customers who are on the Airtel network," Vittal added.
“Over one million email submissions have been sent to India’s telecom regulatory body,” according to a statement from SaveTheInternet. It said the number of responses could be even higher, as savetheinternet.in platform counts only those submissions that are copied to its email addresses. The users are allowed to edit and substitute its template before making their submissions to the TRAI.
On Thursday, Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar also submitted his official response to the consultation paper along with a petition containing 2.88 lakh signatures collected through online platform Change.org in support of ‘keeping internet access free of any restriction’.
Bharti Airtel’s launch of Airtel Zero platform on April 6 had triggered a debate on the issue of net neutrality across the country and many experts said the launch was against the principles of net neutrality.On the ‘Airtel Zero’ platform, companies, including startups, can offer apps for free. The app maker will pay for the customer's free usage to the operator and users don’t have to pay any data charges.
The issue of net neutrality has caught the attention of a wider spectrum of audience from Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP to netizens on social media.
Net neutrality means all internet sites to be treated equally without any discrimination in terms of speed and cost of access. The department of telecommunications has also set up a committee to look into the issue of net neutrality.
Application providers like WhatsApp and Skype offer voice services through an internet platform. The operators, who are under the Cellular Operators Association of India (Coai), made it clear that the Airtel Zero platform, introduced by Bharti Airtel, is just a marketing platform and has nothing to do with net neutrality, as many were confusing it to be.
“We’re pro-consumers. We don’t believe in blocking any site. We are committed to net neutrality. But ‘same services, same rules’ must apply for all players and not just the telecom operators, who have to pay various levies to the government, such as licence fee. The rules should be applicable to over-the-top players who offer voice and text telephony among other services,” Bharti Airtel’s Managing director and Chief Executive Officer (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.
“OTT (over the top) gives us business. As an industry, we love OTT. If rules are same, frankly technology doesn’t matter. The arbitrage between the two has to go otherwise either the investments by the telecom sector will come down or data charges will go up in India, might be six times, just like it has gone up in the US,” he said.
Friday was the last date for comments on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)’s consultation paper on regulation for OTT players.
The telecom sector has invested Rs 750,000 crore over 20 years to set up infrastructure and about Rs 500,000 crore is required as capital expenditure in the next five years compared to only one per cent return on capital. The challenge is to have the same rules for basic communication services offered by all players, Idea Cellular managing director Himanshu Kapania said.
Same rule should apply for same services, including mobile and internet protocol (IP) voice services, as it is the only way to ensure digital inclusion and bring about social and economic good to people.
However, the operators under the umbrella of Coai said they are not demanding licensing rule for OTT players; just the same rules that will govern both.
Other telcos who came to support net neutrality include Telenor, Aircel and Videocon Telecom.
“Let the government decide on a rule and we will follow that… let there be an informed and healthy debate on the issue,” Kapania added.
Other telcos who came to support net neutrality include Telenor, Aircel and Videocon Telecom.
On Wednesday, Nasscom’s President R Chandrasekhar said OTT players do not need licensing regime as they already fall under the ambit of information technology Act. “If applications will be brought under licensing regime, India will not have access to innovative applications and people have no reason to subscribe to Internet packs, and data revenue of telecom operators will also suffer.”
On Friday, Coai announced Sabka Internet, Sabka Vikas, an initiative to connect the 1 billion unconnected citizens in the country through sabkainternet.in.
Till December 2014, there were 85.74 million broadband users and the target is to achieve 175 million broadband connections by 2017, according to Trai.
In terms of ICT access, ICT use and ICT skills India ranks 129th out of 166 countries below Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Bhutan and Kenya. India ranks 125th in the world for fixed broadband penetration, and some of neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Sri Lanka are ahead of India.
According to COAI, internet users are expected to reach over 500 million by 2018, making India the second largest population of Internet users in the world.
Recently, Nasscom said any discrimination in giving access to Internet amounts to violation of freedom of speech and expression. Nasscom is against all platforms that discriminate access to Internet mainly on basis of payments including zero rating plans.
"There is a misconception about its Airtel Zero plan. It is not a tariff proposition but an open-marketing platform that allows any application or content provider to offer its service on a toll-free basis to customers who are on the Airtel network," Vittal added.
“Over one million email submissions have been sent to India’s telecom regulatory body,” according to a statement from SaveTheInternet. It said the number of responses could be even higher, as savetheinternet.in platform counts only those submissions that are copied to its email addresses. The users are allowed to edit and substitute its template before making their submissions to the TRAI.
On Thursday, Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar also submitted his official response to the consultation paper along with a petition containing 2.88 lakh signatures collected through online platform Change.org in support of ‘keeping internet access free of any restriction’.
Bharti Airtel’s launch of Airtel Zero platform on April 6 had triggered a debate on the issue of net neutrality across the country and many experts said the launch was against the principles of net neutrality.On the ‘Airtel Zero’ platform, companies, including startups, can offer apps for free. The app maker will pay for the customer's free usage to the operator and users don’t have to pay any data charges.
The issue of net neutrality has caught the attention of a wider spectrum of audience from Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP to netizens on social media.
Net neutrality means all internet sites to be treated equally without any discrimination in terms of speed and cost of access. The department of telecommunications has also set up a committee to look into the issue of net neutrality.