On 19 May 2016, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a consultation paper on free data. This consultation paper comes as a part of a series of consultations which TRAI has been doing since March 2015 around the issue of net neutrality (see here and here). This is an issue which has evoked widespread discussion and interest in the Indian public sphere.
In February 2016, these previous consultations culminated in the release of a policy directive by TRAI on the regulation of discriminatory tariffs for data services. This regulation, among other things, laid down that “no service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content,” and that no service provider shall enter into an arrangement “that has the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being offered or charged to the consumer on the basis of content” .