Community Consultation and Safeguards for Net Neutrality

On July 07, 2023, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released the consultation paper on ‘Regulatory Mechanism for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services, and Selective Banning of OTT Services’, which suggests licensing and selective banning of OTT services in a legal vacuum. Comments and counter-comments were invited and last week, TRAI extended the deadline for the submission of counter-comments to 29th September, 2023. Of the comments received, Telecom Service Providers such as Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea have come out in support of “contribution of OTTs to network costs” as well as licensing a wide range of communication services. On the other hand, counter-comments that have been submitted cover a range of concerns regarding net neutrality, licensing, selective banning, etc.

The Rootconf community is called upon to share their concerns and recommendations in this working document by adding comments.

Moreover, Rootconf is also organizing a Telegram call on 26th September at 5:30 pm where tech practitioners from telcos and OTT companies, policy researchers, civil society actors, and other members of the community are invited to discuss their concerns on how TRAI’s suggestions may affect the industry. Based on the conversation and working document, a submission will be made to TRAI with recommendations. Chatham House Rules will apply.

The following are some resources for further context:

• What Telcos Want: OTTs Should Be Responsible For Imposing Selective Bans, Telcos Respond To TRAI’s OTT Consultation (Medianama)
• Open Letter From Start-Ups Warning Of Overregulation Of Internet Services In The TRAI Consultation Paper
• IFFs response to the consultation paper

Key Takeaways

This community consultation will help the audience gain a better understanding of the impact and key concerns surrounding these suggestions, especially for startups and businesses. Participants will also discuss recommendations which will be included in the submission made to TRAI.

How to Participate

One can ‘suggest’ their inputs on key concerns and recommendations asynchronously on the working document. Concerns and recommendations will also be discussed during the community consultation. As the submission to TRAI will be made on 29th September, inputs will be collected from the community till noon of the same day.

Rootconf is a community funded organization. If you like the work that Rootconf does, and want to support meet-ups and activities in different cities in India, consider contributing by picking up a membership.

Who should attend this discussion?

• Startup teams building products across the infrastructure, application and services layers
• Investors tracking the telecom, IT and media sectors in India
• Individual consumers who will be directly affected if the bill is adopted
• Civil society actors engaged in defending the rights of users
• Think tanks developing a research agenda on these issues
• Policymakers including government officials and regulators in the telecom sector
• Lawyers and policy advisors advising clients on the impact of the bill

Contact

Join the Rootconf Telegram group or follow @rootconf on Twitter.
For inquiries, contact Rootconf at +91-7676332020.