Net neutrality: Why it is important?
Net neutrality means that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should treat all traffic and content on their networks equally. Means all traffic and content coming through traffic should be treated equally.
There
are mainly four players in this game.
1.Internet Service Providers like Airtel, Vodaphone, Reliance, tatadocomo etc...
2.The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) which is responsible for
formation and implementation of rules to telecom companies.
3.The Internet companies like Facebook, Google, yahoo, whatsapp and other …..
4.Consumer
What is net-neutrality and how it would affect you?
In
current situation the internet is giving equal oppurtunatity to every website.
Any type of websites, social media sites consume the same amount of data that
you have purchased with a particular ISP. But in the absence of net-neutrality,
your ISP might favour certain websites over others for which you might have to
pay extra money. One Website might load at a faster speed than other because of
some deal of that particular website with ISP.
TRAI is in process of draft consultation seeking views from the industry and the
general public on the need for regulations for over-the-top (OTT) players such
as Whatsapp, Skype, Viber etc, security concerns and net neutrality. The
objective of this consultation paper, the regulator said, was to analyse the
implications of the growth of OTTs and consider whether or not changes were
required in the current regulatory framework.
What is an OTT?
OTT
or over-the-top refers to applications and services which are accessible over
the internet and ride on operators' networks offering internet access services.
The best known examples of OTT are Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, e-commerce sites,
Ola, Facebook messenger. The OTTs are not bound by any regulations. The Trai is
of the view that the lack of regulations poses a threat to security and there’s
a need for government’s intervention to ensure a level playing field in terms
of regulatory compliance.