Net Neutrality: Telcos should not be allowed to act as internet gatekeepers, says Rajya Sabha MP

Telcos should not be allowed to play the role of gatekeepers to the Internet and the government should ensure Net neutrality principles are upheld, Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday.

Chandrasekhar, who interacted with start-up entrepreneurs and young professionals here, said telcos remain the biggest threat to Net neutrality and thus, start-ups.

"One point which I have repeatedly stated time and again is telcos should not be allowed to play the role of gatekeepers to the Internet. To do so would create an unconducive start-up environment for tech entrepreneurs," he said.

"It is now up to the government to ensure the Net neutrality principles are upheld and the Internet is left as a free, open marketplace for consumers, and for the thriving start-up community that it seeks to support." Sector regulator Trai yesterday conducted an open-house discussion on differential pricing for data services, a key aspect of Net neutrality, where all telecom operators supported differential tariffs for data.

The final views of Trai are likely to be out by this month-end.

"... to make Start-up India successful, the government also needs to focus on creating a policy and regulatory environment that allows start-ups to function freely and fairly... in this case, perhaps even a specific legislation for Net neutrality," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week had unveiled a slew of incentives to boost start-up businesses, offering them a tax holiday and inspector raj-free regime for three years, capital gains tax exemption and Rs 10,000 crore corpus to fund them.