IAMAI welcomes TRAI’s decision on net neutrality, Facebook expresses disappointment

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) heartily welcomed TRAI’s ruling on net neutrality announced today. In the regulation on Differential Pricing “Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016”, published today, TRAI ruled that no service provider has the right to charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content.

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The regulatory body also refrained the service providers from entering into any kind of agreement or contract with anybody that will lead to such differential pricing of data. The ruling totally ensured ‘net neutrality’ in India, which was a heated debate for  long.

In a statement published during December 2015, IAMAI clearly mentioned its support to net neutrality. “Differential pricing violates principles of net neutrality,” it then said. Acknowledging the need to connect billions of unconnected Indians, IAMAI said that ‘there are other transparent and more effective ways of achieving the goals’.

“This ruling vindicates the associations stand on the issue. The internet Start-up eco-system and the internet user community are delighted,” IAMAI responded to the new ruling. “This move will ensure that the basic tenets of Net Neutrality are followed in India,” it added.

IAMAI is also happy that TRAI will be the ultimate authority to decide the cases of violations of this ruling. TRAI’s decision on the matters will be final.

However, IAMAI expressed a slight concern over the exceptions rule, which stated, “…regulation shall not apply to tariffs for data services over closed electronic communications networks…”. IAMAI hopes that the service providers will not misuse the same.