NDTV speaks with startup owners and students on net neutrality.
The campaign and support for net neutrality is picking up. AIB, yes the same guys who got roasted for their roast recently, have put up a simple, yet, clear video explaining what net neutrality means and why your support is crucial to save the internet. "The only thing worse than no internet", it says, "is slow internet". The video already has over 5 lakh views in just 24 hours.
And it's not just them. From politicians like Tathagatha Sathpathy of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Shiv Sena's Aditya Thackeray to musician Vishal Dadlani and actor Parineeti Chopra, a cross section of people are voicing their support for net neutrality.
Before this, well popular startup Zomato's founder Deepinder Goyal appealed for level playing field on the web and tweeted.
Its a service recently launched by the telecom giant, reportedly endorsed by another successful startup Flipkart, that's run into controversy because many feel it violates the principle of net neutrality.
Net neutrality means all data and sites are treated and charged equally be it Flipkart's mobile app or any other app, including WhatsApp.
Airtel Zero is a service where you don't pay data charges for using the Apps but the App Maker for example Flipkart pays Airtel for this.
Though Airtel insists the concept of Airtel Zero has got nothing to do with net neutrality, we took the question to a roomful of budding entrepreneurs working and incubating startups.
Aayush Srivastava, Co-founder and CEO, Amicus said, "It creates an unequal playground which is highly problematic for startups like mine and for you the consumer also because see, today, you will get used to something like a free service, you know, and they will bait and switch it, today you will get it for free and tomorrow you will pay twice what you are paying right now because you won't have competitors like me because we will go out of business."
Adamya Sharma, a first year student at Delhi University feels just as strongly. "I sense that in the future it would end up creating monopoly so when there exists Airtel zero and exists a Flipkart and it incentivizes customers to visit Flipkart and in a way creates a monopoly in the future."
For now, all this forms a larger debate on net neutrality as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is currently thinking about bringing in a policy on rules for the internet that could decide how you end up using the web.