"In our opinion, 'same services same rule' policy should be adopted and it's up to the government to decide the modality," Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) said, in response to Trai paper on Net neutrality and framework for over-the-top (OTT) services like Gtalk, Viber, WhatsApp, Line and the like.
The representative body said there is regulatory imbalance between OTT players which provide Internet-based messaging and calling applications and Internet service providers (ISPs).
Also Read
The body suggested that OTT-media should provide end users a certain level of security and privacy, which is not the case today on public Internet.
"The consumer interests and national security should not be ignored and hence, it is necessary to bring OTTs offering Communication Service under the fold of regulation as appropriate while applying Same Services Same Rule policy," ISPAI explained.
It added that "there should not be any blocking, throttling or paid preferential treatment of retail broadband traffic by the ISPs".