The debate on net neutrality has caught the eye of the public in a big way. Videos are being made, petitions are being signed, Facebook posts regarding it are getting viral. In the wake of the recent controversy regarding net neutrality, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) asked the government to define net neutrality.
The association also suggested that the best way forward right now is to try to create a synergy between telecom companies and over the top players.
A statement given by Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar said, "Since the regulatory framework is all-embracing, net neutrality principles need to be very clearly articulated by the government, and adopted by the regulator in a harmonious manner. It will not be useful if different regulators adopt different views of net neutrality. "
The association will also share its answers on telecom regulatory authority of India released consultative paper, ' Regulatory Framework for Over the top services'.These over the top players mentioned above includes those operators which make use of telecom network in order to provide their services.YouTube, Skype, Facebook and Twitter etc. will fall under this category.
According to Nasscom, the advent of internet, ease of accessibility of social media due to high proliferation of mobile technology, internet of things (iot), big data and analytics, cloud etc. along with innovation and Digital India and a phenomenal growth in startups, has given rise to the perfect junction for a breakthrough in country's economic development and transformation.
According to a statement given by Sanjeev Bhikchandani, chairperson of the Nasscom Internet Council, "Any stifling regulations restricting access to Internet or Internet platforms and services would not only seriously hamper this prospect of development, but also suppress growth and success of innovation-driven tech startups and SME companies. "The statement was given to the Economic Times.
The industry body also stated the fact that the key guiding principles of net neutrality are about providing the users with a right to make an informed choice in selecting and accessing legal services or content on the Internet.
This right of the user to access any legal content on the Internet will be hugely compromised when the regulations will not be able to stop price-based and non-price based discrimination being proposed by telecom service providers.
"The other key priority is the proliferation of an affordable telecom infrastructure. These essential building blocks of the digital revolution are not contradictory and can and need to be synergised," said Chandrashekhar.
The association's president also stressed on the need to devise a way in which the over the top players and telecos can work together. He added, "We must look at how to synergise these two so that data consumption goes up, telcos get their revenue from the data, and the development of apps is continued by entrepreneurial companies."
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