Trai extends deadline for comments on net neutrality

Facebook’s partner in Egypt, telecom carrier Etisalat Egypt, began providing Free Basics service two months ago, and Facebook says more than 3 million people in Egypt have signed up.

Facebook said three million Egyptians had used the service, with a million of those going online for the first time.

“We know that for India to make progress, more than 1 billion people need to be connected to the Internet”, he said on Monday. Free Basics remains suspended in India. The date has been extended at a time when social network Facebook has launched a massive campaign in support of its Free Basics service.

Free internet is not a problem, but the issue is it is free for some, not for everyone; and that too, for specific content, not all.

The IAMAI, with members like Google, Facebook and Twitter, said this in a response to a consultation paper released by TRAI on differential pricing that sought comments from interested parties.

Just days after telecom regulators in India temporarily banned Facebook’s Free Basics program, Egypt on Wednesday became the second country to clamp down on the social media giant’s controversial free internet service. Founder Mark Zuckerberg himself has taken the lead with the Free Basics push, personally lobbying with prominent startup founders and government officials. “What reason is there for denying people free access to vital services for communication, education, healthcare, employment, farming and women’s rights?” he wrote.

The industry group also said that even the pricing models suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in a discussion paper on differential pricing for data services contravene the watchdog’s own stated principles of being non-discriminatory, transparent, non-predatory, and non-misleading. Indian regulators did so due to concerns about how Free Basics might affect net neutrality – concerns which have hounded the program since its inception.

India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority has put the launch of Free Basics on hold for now while it accesses “all details and convey a specific approval“.

Nikhil Pahwa, a volunteer at the group, questioned why Free Basics gives users access to only about a 100 sites, instead of giving them access to the entire web?