Public debate on net neutrality in India emerged in 2014 with Airtel’s proposal to raise charges for voice calls made via free instant messaging apps. Subsequently, services such as Facebook Free Basics and Airtel Zero intensified these concerns.
The Telecom and Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released two consultation papers in 2015 seeking public comments—Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) Services, and Consultation Paper on Differential Pricing for Data Services.
In the same year, the Department on Telecommunications (DoT) constituted a six-member committee on Net Neutrality “to recommend overall policy, regulatory and technical responses”. The committee released the Net Neutrality Committee Report, which contributed to regulating this space.
TRAI released the Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations in 2016, which prohibited service providers from entering into an agreement that resulted in discriminatory tariffs being charged to consumers based on the content, applications, services or any other data used by them.
Following this, the TRAI released another consultation paper on net neutrality for public comment. This exercise culminated in TRAI’s Recommendations on Net Neutrality issued in November 2017.
To buttress TRAIs recommendations, the DoT released the Net Neutrality Regulatory Framework in 2018, which gave legal heft to the principle of non-discriminatory treatment and restricted any form of discrimination in treatment of content over the internet.
The DoT also published the National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 which replaced the National Telecom Policy 2012. The document was framed with the aim of establishing ubiquitous, resilient, secure, accessible, and affordable digital communications infrastructure and services. Inter alia, the policy recognised the need to uphold the core principles of net neutrality.
In 2023, the TRAI reaffirmed the application of net neutrality principles in relation to Over-The-Top (OTT) services through the Consultation Paper on Regulatory Mechanism for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services, and Selective Banning of OTT Services. However, telecom service providers (TSPs) voiced apprehensions in their counter comments to the consultation paper, suggesting a mechanism to address the significant data generated by OTT platforms, for which TSPs currently bear the costs. The TSPs proposed that OTT platforms should be subject to a licensing framework and contribute to the development of 5G infrastructure.
