Net Neutrality in India

2017

Between 2015-2017, IT for Change actively engaged in a series of consultations convened by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), on regulation of Over-the-Top services, differential pricing of data, and core principles of net neutrality in the Indian context.
In these responses, IT for Change develops a unique set of…

2017

Since 2015, IT for Change has been actively engaged in influencing the policy debate on net neutrality in India, undertaking policy research and advocacy. We carried out a field research in New Delhi on patterns of access and use of the Internet that demonstrated the critical importance of universal access to the full Internet, for marginalised…

2017

IT for Change submitted comments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the Consultation Paper on Net Neutrality. We urge the development of "Core Principles of Net Neutrality" based on human rights, equity and social justice.

The Internet must be claimed as a level playing field that…

2016

IT for Change made a submission to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in response to the call for comments on the Pre-Consultation Paper on Cloud Computing. The response at the outset stresses that any discussions on the digital, like cloud computing, must be made in awareness of the fact that the digital is…

2016

By allowing content providers to subsidize access to their sites, using the logic of Internet exceptionalism, India’s telecom provider is weakening its previous stance on net neutrality. Read more in Parminder Jeet Singh's piece for The Hindu.

2016

ITfC has made submissions to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in response to the two consultation papers it released, one on free data and another a more general pre-consultation on net neutrality.

On the consultation paper on free data TRAI sought comments on alternate models of providing access to the Internet which did…

2016

Following TRAI's historic ruling that prohibits the discriminatory tariffs for data services, Parminder Jeet Singh, in this op-ed in the Deccan Herald, discusses how TRAI has asserted its regulatory control over the Internet by ensuring data services are not discriminated based on content and are provided as a regulated public utility. 

2016

Following Face book’s aggressive campaign to gain public support for Free Basics, Parminder Jeet Singh in this article in The Hindu argues how while the campaign utterly failed in its intended purpose, its unintended consequences may have done a lot of good to India in shaping a new level of consciousness around digital rights in India.

2016

In light of the growing media focus on Facebook's 'Free Basics' and the overwhelming response to the TRAI consultation paper on differential pricing, Parminder Jeet Singh argues how differential pricing will invert the basic egalitarian design of the Internet in this article in Deccan Herald.

2016

The Telecom Regulating Authority of India (TRAI) released a consultation paper to gauge public sentiment over differential pricing of data services. The paper evoked intense reactions in the media especially on Facebook's 'Free Basics' initiative with Reliance, which was widely publicised. You can read our submission to TRAI here.