Just imagine waking up one day and not being able to enjoy your favourite over the top service (OTT) or not being able to access hungama.com just because your telecom company doesn’t has a deal with hungama.com making it load so slow that you finally give up..
But that is exactly what telecom operators want. They are lobbying the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) to enact a regulation to curve up the internet in India so that the so called 'Over the Top' services which are basically the entire internet content, have to pay to access 'high speed lanes', also users might have to pay more to access certain contents. They want to change the way Indians use the internet by snatching net neutrality.
What is net neutrality?
Net neutrality means that all content on net is equal and should be equally accessible without discrimination; the only need being an internet plan; irrespective of the telecom operator you are into deal with.
What telecom operators want?
Telecom operators want to make money. They claim that their revenue comes only from data usage, they don’t realize carriage or bandwidth. They say that on the other hand, OTT providers make use of the telecom service providers infrastructure to reach the customers and offer product and services that not only make money but also compete with the traditional services offered by telecom service providers. Telecom companies say that they are not able to earn their investment back but that is so not true. One can check the revenue of first 9 financial years of Reliance through data usage.
What’s at stake?
A loss of net neutrality is a threat to you if you are a start-up because the service provider would only provide those services for free with whom it is in deal with say whatsapp or flipkart. The users won’t use other services like amazon or snapdeal or tumblr just because they will be charged for it and the speed will be very slow forcing the users to use fast accessible apps and websites ; and as a user the right to use the internet as you have been using till the present day is at stake.
What user should demand?
Freedom to use the internet the way you choose and not being dictated by telecom companies. Moreover, internet is the only platform where everyone is equal that means net neutrality leads to equality. Internet is a utility and not a luxury, so TRAI has to understand that an open and free internet is essential for the progress of users and India. So, friends it’s high time to join hands to save the internet.
( By Lakshya Dharamdasani)