Victory for the unconnected; zero rating blocked in India.

This newsletter has been specially created to celebrate the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s support of an open and unbiased internet in India by passing regulations that prohibit differential pricing for data services in the country. This newsletter contains a press release, a retrospective of the battle against zero rating and links to various resources and press releases from India and abroad.

Press Release – TRAI stands up for the voices of the unconnected; blocks zero rating in India.

On Feb. 08, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released its “Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations” — effectively banning differential pricing arrangements (such as zero rating) for internet access.

The Digital Empowerment Foundation wholeheartedly welcomes these regulations and congratulates the Authority on its decision.

The regulations disallow service providers to offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content being accessed by a consumer. This move effectively bans zero-rated services as a necessary measure to keep the internet open and non-discriminatory.

“This ruling will serve to increase internet penetration, entrepreneurship and opportunities for NGOs to take up the cause of increasing digital uptake”, said Osama Manzar, Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation.
“Prohibiting discriminatory pricing also supports Freedom of Expression by ensuring that no service provider can play the role of a gatekeeper.”

TRAI has specifically given five set of following guidelines:

1. No service provider can offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content.

2. No service provider shall enter into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being offered or charged by the service provider for the
purpose of evading the prohibition in this regulation.

3. Reduced tariff for accessing or providing emergency services, or at times of public emergency has been permitted.

4. Financial disincentives for contravention of the regulation have also been specified

5. TRAI may review these regulations after a period of two years.

They come after a nearly year-long process that saw one of the largest mobilisations of individuals online in recent Indian history to come out both, in
support and against net neutrality. The mobilisation around this critical issue demonstrated precisely how important the internet is as a platform for voicing citizens’ needs, desires, and rights.

The regulations are quite clear regarding the prohibition of any discriminatory tariffs on the basis of content and any agreements towards the same. TRAI has the final authority on making a decision if any service provider is acting in contravention to this principle.

The Authority has also pointed out that exceptions include services in the field of health and law and order, or areas that are affected by natural disasters. Chairman RS Sharma pointed out that certain communication services could be temporarily
zero-rated during emergencies in order to ensure that communication is up and running. Such tariff would have to be reported to the Authority within seven working days from the date of implementation of the reduced tariff.

Last year, TRAI released a consultation paper seeking views and suggestions on whether differential pricing should be allowed, amidst a nation-wide net neutrality debate. The regulator wanted to know the steps that can ensure the principles of non-discrimination and affordable internet access. In response TRAI received over 24 Lakh (2.4 Million) responses from civil society, industry bodies, individuals across the country.

On the heels of this victory, we encourage further attention to the
urgent need to ensure open access and widespread network access for the millions of unconnected people in India, in particular individuals marginalised and living in remote areas.

DEF, along with other civil society organisations, has previously submitted multiple statements in support of network neutrality to the TRAI.

TRAI Vs. Not-So-Free-Basics

A collection of tweets that present a sampling of the various reactions to the TRAI ruling against differential pricing.

<![if !mso]>Check out TRAI Vs. Not-So-Free-Basics on Storify<![endif]>

Some interesting links

InternetRights.In
– Digital Empowerment Foundation’s program advocating for the internet as a basic right and exploring the links between human rights and the online space.

DEF’s presentation on Net Neutrality – A presentation on net neutrality made by DEF staff, Syed Kazi and Rajat Kumar to new trainess at the Centre for the Development for Advanced Computing, NOIDA.

DEF’s submission on consultation paper on OTT services
– A submission made to TRAI on the treatment of Over-the-top (OTT) services in April 2015.

DEF Submission on Differential Pricing for Data Services
– The submission made by DEF to TRAI on differential pricing for data services in January 2016.

Submission to TRAI by a coalition of 10 CSOs in support of net neutrality – A coalition of CSOs including DEF made a detailed submission to TRAI urging the regulator to uphold network neutrality

India supports the open internet! – A short retrospective

Abstract

The story of the battle for network neutrality in India began, in earnest, almost a year ago. One of the two major battles currently underway has been won; with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India standing up for the voices of the unconnected and ensuring that service providers cannot engage in differential pricing for data services such as zero rating in India. This piece recounts the story leading upto the
current victory and looks to the future with a hope of ensuring that the 1.03 billion unconnected in India have an opportunity to engage with a open, unbiased internet in the near future.

One of the greatest online campaigns in Indian history over the status of the free and open internet ended recently in a victory. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) passed the Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016 (PDF). These regulations contain five specific guidelines:

“No service provider can offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content.”
“No service provider shall enter into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that has the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being offered or charged by the service provider for the purpose of evading the prohibition in this regulation.”
Reduced/zero-rated tariffs for accessing or providing emergency services, or at times of public emergency has been permitted.
Financial disincentives for contravention of the regulation have also been specified
A review these regulations after a period of two years or earlier as it sees fit.

The regulation also upholds the treatment of the internet as a public good, that is managed in trust by the regulator and also blocks any move by any service provider to act as a gatekeeper. While not addressing the ongoing debate of network neutrality directly, the ruling does have far reaching implications in the overall rhetoric. Network Neutrality is defined as a situation in which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide no competitive advantage to specific apps/services, either through pricing or Quality of
Service (QoS). It is also characterised by the following tenets:

All data is created equal
2. No form of legal data is more or less equal than others

The battle for network neutrality began in March, 2015 with the launch of Airtel Zero and Internet.Org that claimed to provide free access to a select bundle of services. The outcry around the launch led to the release of the TRAI Consultation Paper on the Regulatory Framework for Over-the-Top Services (PDF). The paper sough to clarify the treatment of applications and services which are accessible over the internet and ride on operators’ networks offering internet access services e.g. social networks, search engines, amateur video aggregation sites etc (Source).

The penetration of the internet in India has created an immense playing field on which individuals, TSPs, ISPs, Content providers, industry bodies and CSOs were able to deliver over 1 million responses to TRAI. The Indian comedy troupe All India Bakchod (AIB) uploaded its famous “AIB : Save The Internet” video on
YouTube (Source) that as of publication has 3.4 million views. This video along with efforts from civil society and concerned individuals led to various content partners withdrawing from the AirtelZero and Internet.Org platform. As of February 2016, TRAI is still deliberating the treatment of OTT services and the final decision is still awaited.

By the end of 2015, while AirtelZero was left more-or-less abandoned (Source), Facebook
re-launched and rebranded Internet.Org as FreeBasics that provided free access to a collection of certain services in partnership with Reliance Communication. The backlash to FreeBasics led to TRAI to release its Consultation paper on Differential Pricing for Data Services in December 2015. This paper sought to elicit views on pricing different data services at different rates.

Individuals in support of network neutrality once again banded together to stand against Facebook and Reliance. This led to renewed efforts by Facebook, Reliance and certain industry associations to gain support of FreeBasics. They gathered over 12 million responses in support of FreeBasics, by prompting members of its massive user base to fill out a web form with a generic message in favour of FreeBasics. However, by the end
of December 2015, TRAI had banned FreeBasics pending investigation into whether it violated the principles of net neutrality.

In Early January 2016, an epistolary argument had broken out between TRAI and Facebook regarding the generic text contained in responses gathered through Facebook (PDF 1) (PDF 2). TRAI organised an open-house discussion (OHD) in late January to gather any
additional comments on the matter of differential pricing of data services. DEF was present at the OHD and made its opinion clear with an emphatic outburst by Osama Manzar (Source) and Mr Subho Ray from IAMAI (Source)

In a scenario where TSPs cannot restrict or control the choices of consumers, there will be a shift to an extremely high proliferation of digital content and services, Internet applications, mobile apps, start-ups and entrepreneurship. This ruling should also enable major innovations
in last mile connectivity, like using the unlicensed spectrum; or creating village, panchayat or block-level ISPs. Another major avenue of growth would be digitally-capacitated micro enterprises that would leverage the free and open Internet to help their businesses and connect them to consumers beyond geographies.

The prohibition of differential pricing for data services heralds an age supporting the freedom of choice for the vast number of users in India that would be coming online in the next few years. The World Development Report 2016, released in January lists India as the country with the largest number of offline individuals at 1.063 billion, a little less than the next three largest offline populations in the world; China, Indonesia and Pakistan. The government has multiple plans and
mission-mode projects that aim to increase access to the internet & digital tools and aims to integrate key governmental services into an electronic form.