Trai fosters innovation and democracy by affirming net neutrality as a guiding principle
The open, generative nature of the internet the fact that a startup has the same claim on your attention as a world-straddling corporation, or that a small civic group can reach you as effectively as a powerful government makes it an exceptional platform for innovation and democracy . The Trai order appreciates this principle of a level playing field. The “unique architecture of the internet“ is now an explicitly stated guiding principle for regulation, which will deter future attempts to create tiered models of content. Telecom operators will not be allowed to “shape the user’s experience“, the Trai ruling has stressed.
That said, universal digital access is a burning public obligation.Having refused Facebook’s offer, the government should now focus on providing subsidised access to those who can’t afford it in an application-agnostic manner, through the universal service obligation fund or even other business models, like capped free content, or data in exchange for ads or handsets, which do not interfere with net neutrality . The Trai order has rightly drawn attention to the need to expand public access.