It's 2023 and I'm not sure if anyone cares for #netneutrality in India anymore, but Jio, Vi and Airtel are coming for it.
Don't take my word for it. Here are excerpts from their submissions to @TRAI (uploaded last night) :
Jio wants Internet companies to "contribute" towards telecom network costs, based on volume of traffic, turnover threshold, number of users etc. Basically, apps should pay telcos because users want to use an app.
On by the way, guess what...
Airtel wants this too. They want this to be traffic based, so only large startups will be impacted. It's not just them...
Vi wants this to be based on traffic too, but also they initially want the govt to determine how much money these startups should pay telcos.
Of course, they're all claiming that this won't violate Net Neutrality. Excerpts follow:
Jio's claiming property rights over the Internet... and says that telcos charging these "network fees" won't violate #netneutrality
Then there's Airtel claiming the same, calling large online services "systemic traffic generators" as if they're offenders of some kind.
Vi, on the other hand...
Vi has an entire "myth busting" section about how charging some companies a network fees won't violate net neutrality, when it does exactly that.
Before I forget, Airtel wants all sorts of online services to be licensed
Oh and believe it or not, Airtel wants all online messaging services to be licensed, including Paytm, because you can message someone without paying them.
I'm really surprised that they haven't asked for licensing of email.
cc @vijayshekhar
@vishalmisra I've been collecting excerpts from their submissions:
docs.google.com/document/d/1Eg…
If you've read till here, I've culled out some excerpts from their submissions: docs.google.com/document/d/1Eg…
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