Net Neutrality Back in Focus with 5G, DoT Tells TRAI to Review Shift

The discussion around net neutrality is now back in India. This sprung up briefly when Airtel announced the Airtel Fast Lane technology, earlier branded Airtel Priority. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) to review the rules. The reason is that when the net neutrality rules were initially laid out in 2017, 5G did not exist. The mobile usage primarily was still for voice calling. Over time, with the launch of 4G and 5G, this has shifted to data usage.

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TRAI to Review Net Neutrality Rules

TRAI has been asked by the telecom department to review and provide recommendations on the net neutrality rules. The rules need to be updated as the technology shift has happened over the last few years and now 5G allows slicing. With slicing, telcos can offer a differential service to the consumers if they pay more.

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The telecom department does not want that access service providers or the telcos make it unfair for any consumers or the companies such as Netflix, Amazon, WhatsApp or more by slowing down their experience unless they are paying extra. Net neutrality rules dictate that the experience should be the same for everyone. The consumers should get equal access to every service. This keeps internet an open platform where users decide what to access and how, and not the access service providers who will dictate what will be the experience like.

With Airtel Fast Lane technology, which is based on network slicing over 5G, consumers and the policy makers had a confusion regarding net neutrality. Before coming to any conclusion, the telecom depatment has asked the telecom regulator to update the rules so that there is no confusion left on how this tech will be offered to the consumers. Keep reading TelecomTalk to stay updated with the developments.