  Airtel, on Tuesday shared a press statement to clear its view on the much hyped concept of Net Neutrality and Airtel Zero. As there is a mix reaction globally on the Net Neutrality, there are both strong believers and critics on it. Earlier last night, Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook has favored the concept of Net Neutrality and said “I think net neutrality is important to make sure network operators don't discriminate and limit access to services people want to use, especially in countries where most people are online. For people who are not on the internet though, having some connectivity and some ability to share is always much better than having no ability to connect and share at all. That’s why programs like Internet.org are important and can co-exist with net neutrality regulations”.
Press Statement from Airtel:
Airtel fully supports the concept of Net Neutrality. There have been some misconceptions about our toll free data platform – Airtel Zero. It is a not a tariff proposition but is an open marketing platform that:
1. Allows any application or content provider to offer their service on a toll free basis to their customers who are on our network.
2. Such customers whether on a data pack or not will therefore be able to access these toll free services free of charge.
3. No site whether on the toll free platform or not under any circumstances is blocked, throttled or provided any form of preferential access.
4. The toll free platform is open to all content providers on a completely non discriminatory basis and operates on the same principle as 1-800 toll free voice services.
The statement made by Flipkart regarding their decision not to offer toll free data service to their customers is consistent with our stand that Airtel Zero is not a tariff proposition. It is merely an open platform for content providers to provide toll free data services. The platform remains open to all companies who want to offer these toll free data services to their customers on a completely non discriminatory basis. |