Net neutrality: What The Top People in Industry Have to Say

Net neutrality has become a raging issue in the country and over the last one month everybody has been talking about it. Net neutrality is the concept that makes it mandatory for all service providers to offer access to consumers to all content on the internet including websites and applications, irrespective of the source and no special favors or blocking of any applications or websites.

Unfortunately, the giant telecos in the country are lobbying against this. Common users as well as many corporates, especially in those in the tech domain are coming out to support net neutrality. The huge debate erupted when Airtel came up with Zero programme and e-commerce giant Flipkart decided to party with it. Post the huge outburst on the social media, Flipkart announced that it was walking away from the Zero initiative.

Airtel too has come out and said that it is not against net Neutrality in India and the company is now looking at reaching out to its customers through direct mails. The mail quotes Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO of Airtel, who states, “Our vision is to have every Indian on the internet. There are millions of Indians who think that the internet is expensive and do not know what it can do for them. We believe that every Indian has the right to be on the internet. We know that if we allow them to experience the joys of the internet they will join the digital revolution”

Talking specifically about the recent controversy, Vittal says, “There has been a deliberate effort by some quarters to confuse people that we will offer differential speeds or differential access for different sites. This is untrue. After all we earn revenues from data. If there are more customers who are on the Internet the better it is for our business. Our revenues are not dependent on which sites they visit because we charge on the basis of consumption of mega bytes not which site they visited.”

Read Also: Net Neutrality and Why does it matter?

Even Cellular Operators Association in India (COAI) has come up and shared that it is all up for net neutrality. In its statement it also made a strong pitch for ‘Net Equality’ that will enable access to Internet for a Billion Indians as part of the Government’s Digital India vision.

The Association urged all stakeholders to have a comprehensive and informed debate on the subject of Net Neutrality keeping in mind the requirements of India and its citizens. An important and complex subject such as this, which is still being debated in many countries, which has taken years to conclude in many other countries and which is the subject of litigation in some, should not be left to the opinion of a few.

It further said, “We need the same spirit to connect a Billion Indians to the Internet. This means innovations across the ecosystem – affordable smartphones, more efficient networks, even more broad ranging applications (especially in areas such as education, health, governance) and pricing flexibility – that promotes greater digital inclusion. Only then can our citizens in rural India, or from a lower economic strata, be empowered through internet access”.

A lot of top men in corporate and technology world too have come in support of net neutrality. Here is a snapshot of what some of the leading players in the industry have to say


Ritesh Agarwal CEO, OYO Rooms (revolutionary budget hotel) in support of net neutrality said, “Net neutrality is absolutely essential for a free and competitive market especially now since there is a start- up boom in the country particularly in the online sector. Most importantly Internet was created to break boundaries and as concerned industry players, we should maintain that. We support net neutrality and will do all needed to build this further.”

Manav Sethi, Group CMO, Askme believes, "Internet is an essential service and should be provided without any discrimination, zero rating platforms can seriously affect the freedom and growth of the billions of entrepreneurs, quite against the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ vision of our government. Any violation of internet neutrality can have a serious bearing on effective and fair competition in the market place. We feel it’s the government’s responsibility to ensure a level playing field for home grown entrepreneurs and at the same time protect the interests of netizens."

Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and CEO-India, MakeMyTrip says, "We are committed to a free internet and fully support Net Neutrality. Innovation is core to our DNA and a free internet will foster innovation and boost the pace of economic growth of the country. A 2011 McKinsey Report on ‘The Impact Of Internet On Economic Growth & Prosperity’ suggests that higher internet penetration leads to a rise in living standard and drives business transformation and economic modernization. In light of this analysis, it will be important for India to not only accelerate the penetration of internet, but also make sure that the next set of mobile-first users who are coming online from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities find valuable services, in a language they understand, on the internet. We urge all government departments to consider how internet can be integrated in their respective areas, in order to provide value to this first-time internet user, instead of treating the internet as a separate vertical. We would also like to propose a democratic network-neutral platform, where companies can come together to build solutions for these first-time internet users (in their native languages), to support the growth and penetration of internet in India, without any commercial arrangement between the parties involved."

Tripti Lochan, CEO VML says, “Keeping neutrality of data is sacred. It levels the playing field and as a country gives us hope - that we are about enterprise and not just about scale, where big eats small. It's about a very simple fundamental principle - equality. Today, consciously, let's make a choice that counts.”

Kallol Borah, CEO & Founder, Lukup Media believes, "The internet needs to be neutral - no internet application provider ‎or consumer should be deprived of or get a different treatment based on a special contract or payment made to the telecom or internet service provider. However, we all know that telecom and internet infrastructure requires huge investments and since that infrastructure is so poor and is not available to all, there is a case for a levy made equally on all internet application providers by internet service providers based on outgoing traffic that such internet application providers consume. So, if a website sends out X GB of data another website sends out Y GB of data, they will pay an additional charge per GB to the internet service provider."

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