Millions of Egyptians offline as Facebook cancels free internet service

The telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) has so far received 18.72 lakh responses to its consultation paper on differential pricing for data services.

Facebook said it was “disappointed that Free Basics will no longer be available in Egypt” in a statement, adding it hoped “to resolve this situation soon”.

Facebook has mounted an aggressive campaign for Free Basics after a similar initiative known as internet.org was stalled after a fierce backlash from those who believe that the programme violates net neutrality.

It said that the regulator can introduce a “Model Standard Interconnection Agreement” which can be made mandatory for providing free Internet access to ensure transparency.

The Indian government has ordered Facebook’s Free Basics plan to be put on hold while it decides what to do.

Responding to a recent TRAI Consultation Paper deceptively titled “Consultation Paper on Differential Pricing”, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the largest representative body of internet companies in India, has said that the differential pricing violates not only principles of net neutrality but TRAI’s own stated principles of pricing. Reliance Communications is the only telecom partner to offer a basic set of internet services free to its subscribers in India.

Of those three million, one million received access to the internet for the very first time.

Critics have said the program undermines the principle of net neutrality, the idea the internet traffic should be treated equally.

Mr Zuckerberg has got personally involved, arguing his company’s case in an editorial in The Times of India newspaper this week.

“The questions which were raised in that paper were – whether a telecom service provider (TSP) has the discretion to offer differential prices for different websites”. When people are connected, we can accomplish some pretty incredible things.

For those who are yet to be part of the ongoing debate, Free Basics is an app that gives users selective access to services like communication, healthcare, education, job listings and farming information – all without data charges.

If access to Facebook (and certain services which would come via Facebook’s platform) is free, it surely becomes a step against Net Neutrality.