Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

The government is currently in the process of framing rules to implement net neutrality within the country, which bars service providers from discriminating against internet content and services by blocking, throttling or granting them higher speed access.

In a written statement issued by Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Friday, directed to the Rajya Sabha, he said: “Government is in the process of establishing the regulatory framework for net neutrality which, inter alia, includes amendment in the terms of various licence agreements governing the provision of internet services in India to incorporate the principles of non-discriminatory treatment of content”.

Taking a vital decision that will help secure the rights of Internet users in the country, the Telecom Commission, the apex decision making body at the Department of Telecom (DoT) approved the recommendations of the Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) on net neutrality on 11 July 2018. By endorsing steps that call for amendments to access services licenses for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Telecom Operators, the Commission has made it very clear that any violation of net neutrality will be treated as a violation of these license conditions. Combining this approval with the fact that TRAI had barred telecom service providers from charging differential rates for data services (zero rating, for example), India will now have among the strongest net neutrality regulations.

However, some critical applications or services like remote surgery and autonomous cars will be kept out of the purview of net neutrality framework, owing to their special nature. Emerging services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) may be exempt from the non-discriminatory principles for now, too.

The TRAI had previously recommended implementing restrictions on service providers from entering into agreements or practices which could lead to discriminatory treatment of content on the internet and favored tweaking of licensing norms for players to ensure explicit restrictions on internet content discrimination practices.

Currently, the DoT has to set up a multi-stakeholder body to monitor and enforce the net neutrality policy. The body comprises of government representatives, IoT providers, telecom operators, civil society members and consumer organizations.

“The DoT will seek recommendations from TRAI on traffic management for critical services and is committed to the fundamental principles and concept of net neutrality and strives for non-discriminatory access to the internet for all citizens of the country,” Sinha had previously said.

By Kriti

Business news author and curator at The Indian Wire.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *