Airtel is getting heavy backlash from community for its net neutrality violating Airtel Zero project. TRAI will be keenly observing all progress with Airtel Zero and meanwhile, NextBigWhat reports that Flipkart will be walking out of Airtel Zero too!
This should be a big blow to Airtel Zero, an ambitious project which will allow Airtel users to access certain apps for free if their developers pay Airtel for the data. This violates net neutrality as it will ensure preferential treatment to those who can pay to Airtel and other telecoms over new startups.
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This might have several long term drawbacks. After several years, when consumers are habituated to free internet, it will be difficult for startups to emerge from dirt and succeed. Companies like Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and even Flipkart are born out of net-neutrality and due to the free, border-less, in-discriminatory nature of the internet.
To know more about net neutrality and why Airtel Zero violates it, head on to the recommended link below. Or proceed to read Flipkart official statement right after the break.
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We at Flipkart have always strongly believed in the concept of net neutrality, for we exist because of the Internet. Over the past few days, there has been a great amount of debate, both internally and externally, on the topic of zero rating, and we have a deeper understanding of the implications. Based on this, we have decided on the following:
- We will be walking away from the ongoing discussions with Airtel for their platform Airtel Zero
- We will be committing ourselves to the larger cause of Net Neutrality in India. We will be internally discussing over the next few days, the details of actions we will take to support the cause
- We will be working towards ensuring that the spirit of net neutrality is upheld and applied equally to all companies in India irrespective of the size or the service being offered and there is absolutely no discrimination whatsoever
Source: NextBigWhat
