TRAI issues pre-consultation paper on net neutrality

This pre-consultation paper is an attempt to identify the relevant issues in these areas, which will help TRAI in formulating its views on the way forward for a policy or regulatory interventions on the issue of net neutrality

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | June 1, 2016

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently issued a pre-consultation paper on Net Neutrality, seeking comments of all stakeholders.

The proliferation of a vast variety of applications, websites, and other forms of content on the internet, has enhanced user choice and paved the way for greater innovation and competition. The diverse range of services available on the internet has varying characteristics, uses and bandwidth requirements. Increasing internet usage, particularly of services that consume high bandwidth, may require Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to adopt certain reasonable measures to protect the integrity of the network and provide appropriate quality of services to their users, while working within the 'best efforts' design of the Internet.

This calls for a deeper enquiry into the various issues relevant to the subject of net neutrality, including determining the reasonableness of traffic management tools that may be adopted by TSPs; understanding the importance of unrestricted access to the Internet; transparency and informed choice by users; customer privacy and national security.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has also sought the recommendations of TRAI on the subject of net neutrality, including traffic management techniques; the economic, security and privacy aspects of OIT services; and other relevant areas covered in TRAI's consultation paper dated March 27, 2015.

This pre-consultation paper is an attempt to identify the relevant issues in these areas, which will help TRAI in formulating its views on the way forward for policy or regulatory interventions on the issue of net neutrality. Written comments on the pre-consultation paper are invited from the stakeholders by June 21, 2016.

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