You might assume that a country with one of the lowest Internet-penetration rates in Asia would welcome private companies bringing new users online. But all bets are off when that country is India, and the company is Facebook.
Last month India’s telecom regulator asked Reliance Communications to suspend Free Basics, Facebook’s ambitious attempt to provide poor Indians with a stripped-down version of the Internet for free. Free Basics gives users access to about 80 web sites and applications at no charge.
The regulator will soon decide whether to allow carriers to charge customers differently for data usage on different web sites and applications. It appears unlikely that Facebook and Reliance will prevail over a vocal coalition of activists, academics and technology entrepreneurs who oppose Free Basics as a violation of “net neutrality,” the principle that an Internet provider must treat all data on the web equally and not provide easier access to some web sites than to others.
from AEI » Latest Content http://ift.tt/1SLdKe4
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