Facebook’s India stumble could embolden other regulators

Internet.org is Facebook’s umbrella initiative to bring Internet access to the unconnected.

India’s telecommunications regulator on Monday banned programs that offer access to a limited set of websites and apps, including Facebook’s Free Basics service.

“While we’re disappointed with the decision, I want to personally communicate that we are committed to keep working to break down barriers to connectivity in India and around the world”.

Only 252 million of India’s 1.2 billion people have access to the internet. Part of that is the Free Basics programme, which Facebook has launched in around three dozen emerging countries.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has expressed disappointment with telecom regulator TRAI’s decision to back net neutrality, saying this restricts programmes of his and other organisations that provide free access to data.

The trai order ensures innovation in terms of diversity of internet content. Companies providing services akin to gaints such as facebook can come up.in other words, the order guarantees that teh Indian internet space is condusive for creative, new products.

In July previous year, the company completed and tested its solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle, Aquila, which aims to provide Internet connectivity in remote locations across the world using laser and radio frequency technology.

Free Basics is a key pillar of Facebook’s ambitious Internet.org programme, which looks to deliver internet access to billions of people globally. India called it “the East India Company all over again”.

It started when Trai released a consultation paper on differential pricing in April a year ago, followed by the launch of Airtel Zero, a marketing platform that allows customers to access mobile applications for free but charges the application providers, by telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd. About 10 days after the launch of Airtel Zero, online retailer Flipkart, which partnered with Airtel, walked away from the deal.

The social networking company has also tried to promote Free Basics as an open platform on which developers can include their services, provided the services and sites meet certain criteria.

TRAI recognized those arguments in its ruling Monday, announcing a new regulation that prohibits “discriminatory tariffs” imposed by Free Basics and other so-called “zero rating” services, in which companies compensate the Internet service provider for traffic to certain URLs. Though Facebook officials acknowledge that creating more Internet users will necessarily be good for Facebook’s business, they have also described the program as at least partially altruistic.

Free Basics is part of Facebook’s ambition to expand in its largest market outside the United States.

Soon after, Google dropped out of Free Basics, according to a person familiar with the situation.

TRAI also asked Reliance Communications, the wireless carrier offering the service, to put a halt on the commercial rollout of the service, which would involve large-scale advertising and promotions, until the regulator decided on whether the differential tariff would be a threat to net neutrality in the country.

“Essentially everything on the Internet is agnostic in the sense that it can not be priced differently”, TRAI Chairman Ram Sevak Sharma said at a news conference.