Fully support the concept of net neutrality: Airtel

Asserting that it fully supports the concept of net neutrality, Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said there have been some misconceptions about its toll-free data platform Airtel Zero.

"Airtel fully supports the concept of net neutrality. There have been some misconceptions about our toll-free data platform Airtel Zero," the company said in a statement here.

Airtel Zero is not a tariff proposition but is an open-marketing platform that allows any application or content provider to offer their service on a toll-free basis to their customers who are on Airtel network, it said.

"Such customers, whether on a data pack or not, will therefore be able to access these toll-free services free of charge. No site, whether on the toll-free platform or not, under any circumstances is blocked, throttled or provided any form of preferential access," the company added.

"The toll-free platform is open to all content providers on a completely non-discriminatory basis and operates on the same principle as 1-800 toll-free voice services," Bharti Airtel clarified.

The telecom service provider made this statement following e-commerce giant Flipkart's comment on Tuesday saying it is "walking away" from the platform Airtel Zero as it is committed to the larger cause of net neutrality.

Airtel further said: "The statement made by Flipkart regarding their decision not to offer toll-free data service to their customers is consistent with our stand that Airtel Zero is not a tariff proposition.

"It is merely an open platform for content providers to provide toll-free data services. The platform remains open to all companies who want to offer these toll-free data services to their customers on a completely non-discriminatory basis."