Next on Trai's agenda: Internet data speeds

NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), which banned differential tariffs on the internet in February, is now seeking answers to the next set of concerns around net neutrality, this time tackling the issue of
data speed and the control of telecom companies over the network and its possible misuse.
"There is a fine line between correctly applying traffic management to ensure a high quality of service and wrongly interfering with internet traffic, for instance, to limit applications that threaten the telecom service provider's (TSP) own business or to adopt more profitable business and revenue-sharing models," Trai said in a pre-consultation paper on net neutrality .

Trai mentions the blocking of applications, websites or any other content; slowing or "throttling" internet speeds; preferential treatment of applications and websites; and inspection of the contents of data packets, except to meet lawful requirements as practices that may be regarded as "unreasonable interference" with internet traffic.

"In the absence of a clear regulatory framework on net neutrality , advanced traffic management techniques can potentially be used by an operator for discriminatory or anti-competitive purposes. For instance, a telecom provider could use its control over internet access services to discriminate against any competitors that rely on its network or offer paid prioritisation to certain services," Trai said.
However, it also stated that companies have to often deal with congestion to deliver the desired quality of services."An appropriate policy and regulatory approach on these issues will, therefore, have to strike a fine balance between these competing interests."
Trai also sought to address the issue of customer privacy , especially in the context of national security . Here, it seeks views on regulating the entire app ecosystem, technically also referred to as over-the-top (OTT) services. This is a potentially thorny issue as app makers are averse to the government control on their ecosystem. Telecom companies, however, want the same set of regulations and restrictions on the apps as they face in their business.
"OTT communication services, like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and instant messaging, use the internet for their transmission. While such services are governed in some respects by the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, they are not subject to the same regulatory regime that is enforced on conventional voice and messaging services provided by telecom companies," Trai said.

communication services can have a number of implications, including for telephone number management, public safety, emergency number access and national security . "Besides security challenges at the national level, OTT communications and OTT media can also pose a threat to the privacy of individual users," the regulator pointed out.
"This calls for a need to examine the legal and regulatory framework required for governing the privacy of users of OTT services," Trai said.