Unlike Trump, India is partial to net neutrality. But what does that mean?
The Trump administration has junked the concept in the United States, and Asian nations are often beholden to telecom providers, but India has decided all its 1.3 billion people should have equal access to online content
India’s adoption of net neutrality this month caps off years of campaigning for an open and fair internet in the world’s second most populous country, made more significant by the fact that the principle essentially just died in the United States, the internet’s birthplace.
Few nations in Asia are likely to follow India’s lead, however, given a general lack of public awareness and the tight grip telecommunication providers hold over many policymakers.
Net neutrality rules guarantee fair access to the internet by prohibiting service providers (ISPs) from slowing connections – known as throttling – or prioritising access to certain websites or applications.
This month, in a landmark move, India’s interministerial telecom commission agreed to recommendations from regulators that ensure India’s 1.3 billion people have equal access to all online content at the same speed and cost. This includes the banning of “blocking, degrading, slowing down or granting preferential speeds or treatment to any content”.
India’s lynching app: who is using WhatsApp as a murder weapon?
Some services are eligible for exemption, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), autonomous driving and remote diagnosing services that by nature require faster internet connections. Net neutrality supporters welcome the ruling, saying that India now has a firm standing against any attempts to create slow- and fast-lane access to the internet.