Policy & Regulation
TT Correspondent | 28 Nov 2017The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has today released its recommendations on “Net Neutrality”. These recommendations are the result of a long, multistage consultation process.
The Salient features of the recommendations are:
The licensing terms should be amplified to provide explicit restrictions on any sort of discrimination in Internet access based on the content being assessed, the protocols being used or the user equipment being deployed. Content would include all content, application, services and any other data, including its end-point information, that can be accessed or transmitted over the internet.
The “discriminatory treatment” in the context of treatment of content would include any form of discrimination, restriction or interference in the treatment of content, including practices like blocking, degrading, slowing down or granting preferential speeds or treatment to any content.
The service providers should be restricted from entering into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that has the effect of discriminatory treatment based on content, sender or receiver, protocols, or user equipment.
The scope of proposed principles on non-discriminatory treatment is applicable specifically to "Internet Access Services", which are generally available to the public.
In order to remove any ambiguity, Internet Access Services has been defined.
Specialised service i.e services other than Internet Access Services which are optimised for specific content, protocols or user equipment, and where the optimisation is necessary in order to meet specific quality of service requirements shall be exempted from the principles of discriminatory treatment.
DoT may identify specialised services. However, specialised services may be offered by the service provider only if they are not usable (or offered) as a replacement for Internet Access Services; and the provision of such services is not detrimental to the availability and overall quality of Internet Access Services.
Internet of Things (IoT), as a class of services, are not excluded from the scope of the restrictions on non-discriminatory treatment. However, critical IoT services, which may be identified by DoT, and which satisfy the definition of specialised services, would be automatically excluded.
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), which enable a Telecom Service Provider (TSP) to deliver content within its network without going through the public Internet, are exempted from the scope of any restrictions on non-discriminatory treatment.
The Internet Access Service Providers may take reasonable measurement for traffic management, provided the same are proportionate, transient and transparent. They may also take reasonable measures to preserve integrity and security of network, for provision of Emergency Services, implementation of an order of the court or direction of the Government, or in pursuance of an international treaty.
TSP shall be required to declare their Traffic Management Practices (TMP), as and when deployed and the impact it may have had on the users. The disclosure requirements shall also include information about specialised services, direct or indirect arrangements entered into by them.
For monitoring and investigation of violations, a collaborative mechanism has been recommended to established in the form of a multi-stakeholder body comprising members representing different categories of TSPs and ISPs, large and small content providers, reprentatives from research and academia, civil society organisations and consumer representatives. This body, which would be responsible for developing technical standards pertaining to monitoring of TMPs and enforcement of principles on non-discriminatory treatment and making appropriate recommendations to the Authority. The Government / Authority shall reserve the right to seek any information from the committee, investigate its conduct to ensure transparency and fair treatment to all its members, and issue appropriate regulations, directions, orders or guidelines, as and when needed.