Hoodwinking India Airtel Zero Net Neutrality

Hoodwinking India.

So, Airtel India’s boss, Mr. Gopal Vittal sends out a letter stating that the company believes in Net Neutrality, yet feels that the Airtel Zero platform is an empowering idea, as content providers will pay for the customers who are unable to afford the current internet charges.

The first question from a business perspective I have, is, why would any app developer or a site pay Airtel to get consumers? Knowing very well they do not have a purchasing power! To me, this does not make any sense. Unless of-course, Mr Vittal you have ulterior motives.

                Prime Minister Modi wants to see the next Google or Facebook coming from India. The government has an ambitious plan of creating a digital India, and none of this would be possible if we do not believe in Net Neutrality.

                For Facebook to succeed over Orkut, or Gmail over Outlook, the underlying cause was a level playing field. The moment the service provider in conjuncture with an app developer restricts access or penalises customers from visiting a non-partner site or app, they are violating the principles of level playing field and more over restricting growth of a nascent industry by creating new entry barriers.

                Whether you call it neutrality or equality the underlying principle has to be equal opportunity to reach end consumers, and Airtel Zero plan violates that. As a business, one may see internet merely as social media sites, but is it really that? Is empowering the idea of buying a product from an e-retailer, spending hours looking at status messages on Facebook? Or is it about the accessibility to research and learn about the world?

                Mr Vittal, our country faces enormous challenges for which we need indigenous solutions. When the Prime Minister speaks about digital revolution, I hope he does not intend for every Indian to be on Facebook. He probably wants to see applications that can offer solutions to our problems.

For instance, an application that can track rural health, an app that allows doctors to know the medicines they had prescribed to patients, an app that can record observations on health parameters, and provides the same information to the Commissioners sitting in district headquarters for better rural health planning, is what we should be aiming at.

                Would a developer of such an idea find place on your platform? Probably not. Earlier, entrepreneur’s had to run behind government officials and now they'll have to run behind telecom operators to seek approval of their product.


                Yes, there is a decline on SMS revenue, what is killing SMS is not that WhatsApp is free, but the value addition it offers. WhatsApp has revolutionized the way communication and business takes place across the country. I see weavers sitting in villages 200 km away from Bangalore, sharing images of new designs, accepting orders without having to spend time traveling to the city. I see wholesalers getting repeated orders of designs without having to spend 3 days waiting for a courier to arrive with the cutting of a fabric. 

                                                             This is leading to greater efficiency in the overall system. However, Telecom operators probably see it as loss of revenue to Transporters and Courier companies.

                Telecom operators need to stop cribbing about falling SMS and Voice revenue and focus on how they can provide value addition to their customers.

                Also, a parting note to COAI, I heard Mr. Rajan Mathews recently talk about OTT’s and security threat to National Security on NDTV. He needs to get out of his cosy world. Indian Telco’s aren’t doing anything to improve the security apparatus of India. To my understanding, a primary expectation from security agencies is verifiable address, and the way information is currently captured and verified is flawed.

                If COAI really cared about National Security, I should've been getting a letter to my registered address at least once a year with a unique code. So that my address can be re-verified. If you really cared, you would start sending SIM replacements by courier, so, that at least you know your customer resides at the address he is providing you.

I hope the government steps in and stands for the cause of Net Neutrality.

So dear Airtel Stop #HoodwinkingIndia

http://www.savetheinternet.in/


Saurabh Seth

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