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TRAI suggestions on Net Neutrality draw mixed reaction from industry
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SME Times News Bureau | 29 Nov, 2017
Industry stakeholders on Tuesday gave a mixed reaction to the telecom
regulator Trai's recommendations on Net Neutrality (NN), with some
terming the recommendations as "progressive" and "pragmatic" and others
finding them "a bit simplistic in light of increasing complexity in the
economics of Internet".
According to the Internet and Mobile
Association of India (IAMAI), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI)'s recommendations are progressive and in line with the debates in
the industry and user groups that had been raging for the last two
years.
"For the industry, the recommendations are pragmatic in
the sense that it recognises the requirements of expansion of digital
services in the country, when it makes reasonable exceptions for
specialised services, reasonable traffic management practices or
fulfilling international treaty agreements," IAMAI said in a statement.
"Special
provisions for IoT (Internet of Things), specialised services and CDNs
(content distribution network) reflect it's a forward looking
recommendation that takes into account the needs of the foreseeable
future," IAMAI added.
IAMAI maintained that the TRAI provisions
were also conducive for nurturing the start up ecosystem in the country,
and would give a boost to improve ease of doing business, aiding in
inviting investments in digital businesses in the country.
Indian
IT industry apex body Nasscom said: "The recommendations are completely
consistent with the basic construct of Nasscom recommendations calling
for unrestrained and unimpeded access to all lawful content and services
subject to national regulations related to security and privacy, and
preventing service providers leveraging their exclusive control over
access infrastructure to speed up, slow down or selectively enable or
prevent access to certain content."
TRAI on Tuesday came out with
its much-awaited recommendations on Net Neutrality, holding that
Internet services should be non-discriminatory and also suggesting that
the government set up a body to monitor violations.
"The service
providers should be restricted from entering into any arrangement,
agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural
or legal, that has the effect of discriminatory treatment based on
content, sender or receiver, protocols or user equipment," a release
from the sector regulator said.
It also said the scope of the
proposed principles on non-discriminatory treatment should apply
specifically to "Internet Access Services", which are generally
available to the public.
The Cellular Operators Association of
India (COAI), however, expressed disappointment that the authority did
not adopt the industry recommendation to have a wider approach to Net
Neutrality.
"Inclusion of IoT remains a huge concern, and we will
need to look closely at this. A committee to review and decide on
network management violations is unnecessarily bureaucratic, and not in
keeping with light-touch regulation or the ease of doing business," said
the COAI.
"Moreover at a time, when globally countries are
adopting a more market-oriented and market-driven approach to NN in
order to not stifle development, innovation, proliferation and growth of
the Internet, we believe TRAI should have adopted a light-touch
approach to NN," it added.
Research and advisory firm Gartner
said a little more analysis of how TRAI saw the future of communication
and content and how the industry should evolve would have helped.
"The
recommendations tend to be a bit simplistic, when you see it in light
of increasing complexity in the economics of Internet. While protecting
democratic values, there is a need to create incentives for investors to
invest in infrastructure," the advisory firm said.
"This is
particularly important when the focus has to be on innovation to find
alternate, even superior mechanisms of communication," it added.
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