The government appointed committee on net neutrality has stated that Bharti Airtel’s Zero Rating plan violates net neutrality, reports TOI. However, the Department of Telecom (DoT) committee stated that zero rating platforms will only be allowed if the platforms offered the same terms and conditions for entry to all content providers and websites. This means that content providers will still be able to sign up for zero rating, it’s just that they will need to be treated equally on the platform. No gatekeeping for accessing content V Umashankar, a member of the committee’s panel, told TOI that telecom operators tying with content providers created a gatekeeping situation, which was not in favour of an open internet. He said that in their report, they said that they would step in in order to ‘restore balance and ensure that the internet continued to remain an open and neutral platform for expression and innovation’. "Not all zero rating plans violate net neutrality" He added that no telecom or ISP should have the potential to or determine user choice, distort consumer markets or controlling preferences based on market dominance or gatekeeping. Although Umashankar added that they had not given a go ahead for zero rating platforms, readers should know that the committee has not said no to the platforms either. Umashankar added that ‘not all zero rating plans were controversial or violated net neutrality’, citing examples of free WiFi or free internet coupons. TRAI suggested to evaluate pre-launch and currently existing zero rating platforms TRAI…
