SC: Forfeiture of Earnest Money Impermissible When Both Buyer and Seller are at Fault  ||  Supreme Court: Gravity of Offence Cannot Defeat Speedy Trial; Pre-Trial Detention is Punishment  ||  SC: Terrorist Act under UAPA Includes Conspiracies to Disrupt Essential Supplies, Not Just Violence  ||  Supreme Court Directs Measures to Prevent False and Frivolous Complaints Against Judicial Officers  ||  SC: Mere Participation in Arbitration Doesn’t Bar Challenging Arbitrator; Waiver Must be in Writing  ||  SC: Under Order 1 Rule 10 CPC, the Plaintiff, as Dominus Litis, Cannot be Forced to Add a Defendant  ||  SC: Law Does Not Change With a New Bench; Decisions of a Coordinate Bench are Binding  ||  Delhi HC Absence of Formal Arrest under Section 311A Crpc Does Not Bar Giving Handwriting Samples  ||  Del HC: Security Guards Performing Duties Cannot Be Prosecuted For Wrongful Restraint or Molestation  ||  Bombay HC: Housing Society Earning From Telecom Towers Isn’t An ‘Industry’; Staff Get No Gratuity    

Free Data: Having your cake and eating it too - (19 May 2016)

Media and Communication

After the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India spurned advances of the private sector offering ‘free’ internet for all by banning differential pricing, particularly Facebook’s ‘Free Basics’, TRAI is looking to resurrect the benefits of the initiative without any of its drawbacks.

Earlier implementations offering ‘free’ internet envisaged a platform created by a company with which content providers could register and have their websites availed of without any data charge for the consumer. As such, only websites which were listed on the platform could be accessed by users of the service, giving the service provider the authority to effectively discount certain internet data.

TRAI’s 'Free Data' proposals mean to facilitate internet connectivity without giving any Telecom Service Provider or other large company a “gatekeeper or biased role”, which could lead to discrimination between services.

It makes two recommendations for the same: ‘reward-to consumers’ and ‘toll free API’. In the former, by using certain model apps (for instance, to pay electricity bills), users will be rewarded with recharge for data usage or voice usage. It recognises the model as being similar to what is offered currently by several private platforms.

However, greater emphasis is on the “don’t charge” or toll free method. It’s functioning is likened to that of the LPG subsidy, where the user gets refunded the subsidy directly into their account. As users visit participating websites or apps, the owners of such services will reimburse the user by discounting the data spent on their platform, thus eliminating TSP control over what is and what is not discounted. The end result being that the user will not be charged for accessing participating platforms, subscribers with zero balance will also benefit from the same.

Comments on the proposals are being received by TRAI till 30 June 2016.

Tags : FREE DATA   DIFFERENTIAL PRICING   INTERNET SUBSCRIPTION  

Share :        

Disclaimer | Copyright 2026 - All Rights Reserved