Several major Indian media companies have withdrawn from Facebook-led Internet.org amid a growing public backlash that claims it violates net neutrality.
New Delhi-based broadcaster NDTV, Newshunt – which republishes newspaper articles in local languages – and travel-booking Website Cleartrip, are among those to have pulled out. India’s Times Group removed its local-language news site Maharashtra Times, and its classified job listing service TimesJobs. It has also pledged to withdraw its flagship title Times of India if all of its major competitors follow suit.
The companies are among 38 online media and service providers that signed up to Internet.org when it arrived in India in February. Internet.org is a Facebook-led initiative designed to bring free access to certain basic Internet sites and services in developing markets in order to encourage Internet uptake.
Facebook launched Internet.org in India in partnership with Reliance Communications. The Indian service also includes global brands like the BBC, ESPN and Wikipedia.
Critics argue that the service contravenes the principle of net neutrality by encouraging consumers to only access online services that are free to use. They also claim that it creates a two-tier Internet where those who can afford to pay will get unfettered access to the Web, while those who cannot will be restricted to whichever services are available on Internet.org.
"NDTV is committed to net neutrality and is therefore exiting, and will not be part of, Facebook’s Internet.org," tweeted NDTV co-founder Prannoy Roy on Wednesday.
"We fully support net neutrality. We withdrew from Internet.org earlier this week," tweeted Newshunt.
In a statement published on its Website on Wednesday, Cleartrip said it initially signed up to Internet.org in the belief that it was contributing to a social cause.
"But the recent debate around net neutrality gave us pause to rethink our approach to Internet.org and the idea of large corporations getting involved with picking and choosing who gets access to what and how fast," the company said. "In light of this, Cleartrip has withdrawn our association with and participation in Internet.org entirely."
Meanwhile, Times Group used its official blog to call for a coordinated withdrawal from programmes like Internet.org.
"We will lead the drive towards a neutral Internet, but we need our fellow publishers and content providers to do so as well, so that the playing field continues to be level," said a Times Group spokesperson.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently insisted that he supports net neutrality but maintained that initiatives like Internet.org serve an important purpose.
"Net neutrality is important to make sure network operators don’t discriminate and limit access to services people want to use, especially in countries where most people are online," he said during an Q&A session hosted on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
"For people who are not on the Internet though, having some connectivity and some ability to share is always much better than having no ability to connect and share at all. That’s why programmes like Internet.org are important and can co-exist with net neutrality regulations," he said.
Fanning the flames
Net neutrality has been under the spotlight in India for several months.
In late 2014, it emerged that Bharti Airtel was charging separately for VoIP services like S kype, rather than including them as part of customers’ data bundles. A storm of protest prompted it to scrap the policy.
The incident led the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to form a panel tasked with weighing the implications of establishing net neutrality rules.
In March, the Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) launched a consultation asking whether operators should be allowed to charge over-the-top (OTT) service providers to use their networks. It also asked whether OTT players that provide communication services should be brought under the licensing regime, and called for opinions on net neutrality and reasonable network traffic management practices.
The issue has spawned a grassroots campaign called Save the Internet, which is lobbying the TRAI to safeguard net neutrality and keep OTT comms providers unlicensed. At the time of writing, Save the Internet said that nearly 700,000 supporters have emailed the regulator on its behalf.
The flames were fanned again by Bharti Airtel in April when it unveiled Airtel Zero, a platform that gives app makers and over-the-top (OTT) service providers the option to cover the cost of data usage on behalf of end users.
Net neutrality advocates cried foul, arguing that smaller players and start-ups will lose out to big companies with deeper pockets.
Under the weight of public pressure, India’s biggest e-commerce company Flipkart, which was in talks with Bharti about signing up to Airtel Zero, pulled out on Tuesday, according to local press reports, causing a fall in the operator’s share price the next day.
A TRAI official said in an Economic Times report on Thursday that programmes like Airtel Zero and Internet.org prima facie violate the principles of net neutrality.
With the TRAI’s consultation accepting comments until 24 April, and counter-comments until 8 May, India’s net neutrality debate is likely to rumble on for a long time to come.
