Higher broadband penetration in the country with having level playing field on the internet

Higher broadband penetration in the country with having level playing field on the internet

While the debate on Net Neutrality has been on at the global level for a long time, in India it was triggered when country’s largest operator Airtel in December 2014 announced plans to start charging customers for VoIP services, such as Skype and Viber. The debate gained national momentum when telecom regulator TRAI, in a first step towards making regulating the issue, came out with consultation paper inviting user comments on the subject. Recently, Airtel announced another initiative Airtel Zero, for which it received a lot of flak as this too is seen as violating Net Neutrality.
A neutral Internet means a level playing field. The service providers also warned that if they were to offer unlimited VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) the mobile data prices will need to be increased by atleast six times for operators to sustain business.

Penetration rate is the percentage (%) of a country's population that are subscribers. The industry body also stressed on the need to understand the guiding principles of net neutrality, which is about unfettered user right of making an informed choice in deciding access to legal content/services on the Internet.

Net neutrality creates an open and level-playing field to facilitate innovation, adoption and inclusion. For starters, in a country like India, Net Neutrality has vast implications, especially for start-ups many of whom are dependent on the medium for the success of their business.

Noting that Internet, mobile telephony, social media, big data, analytics, cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) have created a perfect confluence for economic development, the former telecom secretary said the startup and innovation ecosystem and the government's Digital India initiative would transform social and economic spheres, including education, healthcare and financial inclusion.