Net neutrality: Telecom Operators cannot throttle, de-grade or block internet, says TRAI Chief

Follow Us

Telecom operators should not block, degrade or throttle the internet, said Rahul Khullar, the Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India at an event organized by O.P. Jindal University. The Chairman, who will resign from his post by the middle of the month was speaking at a debate on ‘net neutrality and the future of digital India’.

TRAI




He also said that the intension of organization is not to ‘police’ the internet in anyways, rather to bring a ‘transparency’ in managing the internet traffic by the telecom operators. "Anybody in their right mind would not try to regulate and police the internet... But there are problems and issues that you need to grapple with,” Khullar said.

"If you do traffic management, there must be public disclosure and transparency so that you are not abusing authority in the garb of traffic management,” he added.

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had raised concerns about the voice services such as Skype, Viber and Whatsapp. The group demanded TRAI to bring them under license regime, failing which it threatened a raise of data prices. According to Khullar, this argument of COAI will be considered seriously. "They are in the same business as the telecom operators... If they are no different, then should be a level-playing field?"

Khullar further questioned the Digital India initiative of the Government, which promised to connect 2.5 lakhs villages over internet. TRAI Chief felt the initiative as ‘good for dreams’ and asked "We could not provide power and water in 40 years, how can you provide broadband?".

Meanwhile, the internal committee of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is also examining the issue of net neutrality. The Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad spoke in support of complete net neutrality saying the internet should have the linkage with the common man in a non-discriminatory manner.

Reported By

Reporter

An astute writer with a track record in writing and publishing content for various industries, Ria brings on board her wealth of experience in journalism and love for technology to TelecomTalk. When not writing or reading, she spends a copious amount of time daydreaming and finding obscure Japanese folklore on the internet.

Recent Comments

Faraz :

I know that Airtel 5G is inferior than Jio 5G but only a marginal difference in speed/latency, but still much…

Airtel Surpasses 50 Million Unique 5G Users; 5G Plus Now…

Mudassar :

Some stadiums is not whole India.

Airtel Tops Mobile Live Video Streaming Experience in India: Report

Mudassar :

I am surprised to see how all these techy websites and tech enthusiast and content creators although knowing it is…

Airtel Surpasses 50 Million Unique 5G Users; 5G Plus Now…

shivraj roy :

Tbh I didn’t expect the 5G rollout to be this fast All thanks to Jio ,they are putting the most…

One Year of 5G in India, What has changed

vijay mishra :

Hi everybody. Please let me know if anyone has a few email addresses of JIO senior officials where I can…

TRAI Turns Attention Towards Indoor Network Coverage

Load More
Subscribe
Notify of
7 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments