Net Neutrality: CCI examining telcos for probable violations

Fair trade watchdog calls parties concerned to give a presentation over their stands to reach a decision

Fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) has taken cognisance about the debate over net neutrality and is seriously examining if there will be any violations by telcos said a senior CCI official. In fact the commission has called involved parties to give a presentation over their stands in order to reach a decision.

“We have decided to undertake suo-moto investigation over the matter since there was a huge furore about it,” said U C Nahta, Member of the CCI at the sideline of an event. “ The effected parties were supposed to appear for giving a presentation yesterday but it was cancelled, a fresh date of meeting will be announced soon.

The commission could intervene on its own if any dominant player erected an artificial barrier to prevent others from entering the market, the official added. Such data platforms, according to some industry experts, violate net neutrality as they offer access to some apps and not equally to all apps.

Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel launched Airtel Zero, an open marketing platform that allowed customers to access many mobile applications for free, with the data charges being paid by start-ups and large companies. In February, Reliance Communications had tied up with Facebook to launch Internet.org in India, which provided access to 33 websites free of charge

Operators such as Reliance Communications and Uninor have partnered internet companies such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Wikipedia to offer free usage to consumers.

Startups have been up in arms over the issue saying that it is detrimental to their business. After widespread criticism, Flipkart distanced itself from Airtel Zero following which top players like Cleartrip, NDTV, and Times Group announced separation from the Facebook-led Internet.org initiative. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has floated a discussion paper on this topic, a raging debate has broken out in the country following the launch of platforms like Airtel Zero and internet.org.

Earlier, Airtel had defended the zero plan saying it does not violate the concept of net neutrality. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg had also supported the internet.org initiative.