TRAI clicks ‘like’ for net neutrality

As per the regulation, no service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content. No service provider shall enter into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that has the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being offered or charged by the service provider for the purpose of evading the prohibition in this regulation. 

The regulatory authority issued a consultation paper on “Differential Pricing for Data Services” in December 2015. This consultation paper sought the views of the stakeholders on whether the service providers should be allowed to charge differential tariffs based on the websites/ applications/platforms being accessed on the internet. Based on the responses received and the internal deliberations, the Authority has issued the Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations today. 

The regulator says that while formulating the regulations, it had largely been guided by the principles of net neutrality seeking to ensure that consumers get unhindered and non-discriminatory access to the internet. These regulations intend to make data tariffs for access to the internet to be content agnostic. 

TRAI Secretary Sudhir Gupta says that it would keep a close watch on the implementation of the mandate by the service providers and might undertake a review after two years or at an earlier date as it may deem fit.

Welcoming TRAI’s regulation, cyber law advocate and past president of Cyber Society of India (CSI) V Rajendran said that TRAI needs to assert its position that all telecom operators need to follow what the regulatory authority stipulates.