Facebook’s Basic Services Prohibited In India

Free Basics, one of Mark Zuckerberg dream projects, offers free but limited access to the Internet on mobile devices.

The Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016, stipulates that “no service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content”.

A disappointed Mark Zuckerberg, who reportedly spent a whopping Rs 300 crore to promote the campaign in India, said he will not give up on breaking down connectivity barriers in India which he described as an important goal for his company.

But, the agency said, “providing limited free data that enables a user to access the entire Internet is not prohibited”.

Much of the debate around net neutrality and differential pricing in India was centred around Facebook’s Free Basics programme. This also means that programmes such as Free Basics would not be allowed in India.

Zuckerberg noted in his post that Internet.org has already improved many people’s lives across the world with more than 19 million people in 38 countries getting connected. We know that connecting them can help lift people out of poverty, create millions of jobs and spread education opportunities.

“We must connect everyone to the full potential of the open Web. That mission continues, and so does our commitment to India”, ends the post.

As you would expect, Facebook is very disappointed about the TRAI’s decision.

TRAI has come out against differential data pricing by telecos and others in a new order, that was issued yesterday.

The plans were seen as violation of the principle of Net Neutrality that calls for all websites being equally accessible. To them, zero-rating is poor Internet for poor people.

“This can prove to be risky in the medium to long term as the knowledge and outlook of those users would be shaped only by the information made available through those select offerings”, the official statement from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India reads as quoted by the New York Times. “COAI had approached the regulator with the reasons to allow price differentiation as the move would have taken us closer to connecting the one billion unconnected citizens of India”.