Cellular operators bat for net neutrality

Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) on Sunday reaffirmed its support for net neutrality to enable a billion citizens access the internet as part of the government 'Digital India' vision.

COAI issued a statement calling for a debate among all its stakeholders. The statement read: "An important and complex subject such as this, which is still being debated in many countries, which has taken years to conclude in many other countries and which is the subject of litigation in some, should not be left to the opinion of a few."

"We support an open Internet and believe that consumers should decide what to do online. Our job is to enable consumers to benefit from that freedom. We offer choice and do not block or provide any preferential access to any website or app."

Bharti Airtel's launch of Airtel Zero platform on April 6 created furore in the sector over net neutrality, with critics claiming that the platform violated principles of net neutrality.

In its statement, COAI stressed that without infrastructure and investment, there will be no Internet access. Operators have invested billions of dollars in licence and spectrum fees, and network roll-outs. Yet, the sector has only negative returns on the capital employed.

According to the telecom sector's estimates, India will need an additional capital outlay of Rs 3-5-lakh crore over the next 10 years in spectrum, new technology, equipment, towers, optical fibre backbone and other overheads to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Digital India'.

"We believe our role is to enable all services reach customers across the country. One of the key factors to enable this is that same rules must apply to the same type of services, including mobile and IP voice services," read the COAI statement.