Facebook’s Free Basics app provided some internet services for the users of course including Facebook but did not take in everything on the internet world. CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg argued that Some Internet, especially for poor people who can’t afford data plans, is better than no Internet.
TRAI Chairman Ram Sewak Sharma said, “Today we have come out with a regulation that essentially mandates no service provider shall charge differential pricing on basis of application, platforms, websites, or source. No ISP can enter into any arrangements based on discriminatory pricing. We have used the term discriminatory pricing instead of differential pricing because it in that paper had a particular context. What we are saying that packets on Internet, the pipes should not decide. Pipes should be agnostic to the packet.”
By saying that he confirmed that India will not allow Facebook’s Free Basics to run in the country and further promised that they would work upon minimizing the prices of data packs so that the not yet connected people could also come on board. But the major question that arises here is that whether the decision of TRAI of banning the Facebook’s Free Basics in the nation was right?
Facebook ensures that its Free Basics app does not defy net neutrality as any Internet service provider can sign up. But then why TRAI didn’t accept it? The answer is here, because it believes that Facebook’s Free Basics will give private companies too much control over which parts of the Internet will people see and use, and which they don’t.
The debate on whether or not was the decision of TRAI was right for the Indians. The Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that India is very important to him and he won’t be giving up this easily. He says, ““Connecting India is an important goal we won’t give up on, because more than a billion people in India don’t have access to the Internet. We know that connecting them can help lift people out of poverty, create millions of jobs, and spread education opportunities. We care about these people, and that’s why we’re so committed to connecting them” and on the other hand the technology experts say that it will only benefit Facebook in long run and not the Indians eventually.
What is your take on the issue? Do you think that Zuckerberg’s agenda of Free basics is apt as he believes that everyone in the world should have access to the Internet? Or do you think that the TRAI’s decision to ban Facebook’s Free Basics to support net neutrality will benefit the internet users of the country?
Comment your views!
