Credits: Andrew Feinberg on Flickr
Free basics on hold in India!
The Facebook initiative aims to provide a limited amount of free Internet access in India, but the program has been criticized heavily for violating the potential of net neutrality. The biggest Indian entrepreneurs are not at all willing to back the initiative, which is the main reason government chose to place Free basics on hold.
For a while now, it is all about free basics in India suspended. India’s top regulatory body has urged their local partner to put free basics on hold by suspending the initiative for a certain time being. TRAI, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has asked Facebook’s partner for Free basics in India, Reliance Communications, to immediately cease their support until they receive further notice. This will be a major setback for Facebook in India.
Free basics in India, is a part of social media giant’s initiative Internet.org to introduce underprivileged citizens online, who are based in developing countries like India. Facebook partner, Reliance’s subscribers in India will be provided with specific web-services for free.
The issue has sparked a major controversy in India, which is Facebook’s second largest user base following the United States. The critics of the South Asian nation are regarding it as a violation of net neutrality, a principle, which prevents the providers of the Internet from being biased towards certain services and websites.
A senior government official gave a statement regarding free basics on hold saying, a major question that has raised the issue is whether the telecom operators will be permitted to have a various price range for various types of contents. He further explained that it won’t be appropriate for them to continue with the free basics unless they receive feedback for their question.
The social media giant has every now and then made it clear that their initiative is purely for a philanthropic purpose. Free basics have faced a huge backlash in current week for seeking help from its Indian user base regarding support in the form of a message to be sent to TRAI, for free basics. It has also been heavily criticized in India for conducting a broad ad campaign with television, media, leading newspapers, and giant billboards.
