Differential data pricing: Trai floats paper for feedback

Amid debate over zero-rating plans and telecom firms offering discounted tariffs for accessing certain websites, Trai today come out with a consultation paper seeking views if such differential pricing should be allowed.
Trai has asked stakeholders as to what steps should be taken to ensure principles of non-discrimination, transparency, affordable Internet access, competition, market entry and innovation are adhered to, in case differential pricing is allowed.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said some plans introduced in the recent past amount to differential pricing that offer zero or discounted tariffs to certain content of select websites or applications or platforms.

Activists have said the principle of Net neutrality is against any priority being accorded to an entity in Internet traffic flow on account of payments to service providers like telecom companies.
Meanwhile, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Parliament today that the government will take a final view on the issue of Net neutrality after Trai submits its recommendations on the matter.
According to a Trai official, some of the operators are offering plans where they give discounted tariffs to access certain applications like WhatsApp, Facebook and the like, and there are certain platforms that allow access to certain websites free of cost.

Airtel Zero is an open marketing platform that lets customers access a variety of mobile applications for free, with data charges being paid by start-ups and large firms. Similarly, Facebook's Internet.Org allows access to certain websites without mobile data charges.

Trai said the objective of offering such schemes is claimed to be the desire of various service, content or platform providers to enable users, especially the poor, to access certain content on the Internet free of charge.
Implementation of the recommendations will lead to
introduction of new set of small players in the Wi-Fi service space, who will be able to contribute in a big way in making broadband avilable to the masses, said Arvind Kumar, Advisor (Broadband and Policy Analysis) at TRAI.

It may be recalled that in July last year, the TRAI had sought public views on allowing non-telecom companies to participate in setting-up public Wi-Fi hotspots, and said low-cost Wi-Fi access infrastructure could slash Internet rates by up to 90 per cent, while offering faster speeds.
The regulator had estimated that cost per MB in wi-fi Network could be less than 2 paise per MB while consumers on an average are paying around 23 paise per MB for the data usage in the cellular network like 2G, 3G and 4G.