Start-up founders oppose differential pricing of data services

As many as nine founders of start-ups and e-commerce firms have written to the telecom regulator opining that schemes and plans that offer differential pricing of data services will create a digital divide and break up the internet.

This comes at a time when Facebook is aggressively campaigning for a platform that allows users to access certain websites for free. Called Free Basics, Facebook has taken a view that this approach was needed to take internet to the masses in a country like India.

However, the start-up founders said that they want TRAI to prevent telecom providers or content providers from acting as gate-keepers and offering restricted Internet services instead of the open internet. The signatories of the letter include Zomato CEO and Founder Deepinder Goyal, Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Mouthshut.com Founder and CEO Faisal Farooqui among others.

The letter, dated December 29, a copy of which was reviewed by BusinessLine , was addressed to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman RS Sharma.

“The practice of differential pricing of data services results in skewing the dynamics of the internet with telecom service providers and a few players like Facebook with its Free Basics platform acting as gatekeepers. Differential pricing of data services including practices like zero rating of selected content and applications leads to a tiered Internet instead of a single open Internet,” founders said in a joint letter to TRAI.

“This affects the ability of new players to compete in the market with the established corporations,” it said.

The letter was also signed by Teesort.com co-founder and Business Head Alok Agarwal, Metis Learning co-founder Bharat Gulia, SVG Media Founder and CEO Manish Vij, TrulyMadly co-founder and CEO Sachin Bhatia, FlipClass.com Founder and CEO Vineet Dwivedi and GOQii Founder and CEO Vishal Gondal.

“The open nature of the internet has spurred innovation and enabled start-ups to flourish. The success of Google, Facebook or of several Indian start-ups, including those founded by the below signatories to the letter, is a result of the open nature of the internet that permitted innovation without any entry barriers,” the letter added.

At this stage, there is no reason to create a digital divide by offering a walled garden of limited services in the name of providing access to the poor, it said.

On December 9, TRAI issued a consultation paper on differential pricing for data services, with the regulator seeking comments from on permitting differential pricing for data usage for accessing different websites, applications or platforms.

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