The Indian telecom regulator (TRAI) ordered, Wednesday, December 23, with the operator Reliance Communications to temporarily suspend his partner offers with Facebook. In India, the mobile operator offers the Basics Free service, which allows to use the Internet in a limited and lightweight way: it is possible to use a search engine, read the news, watch the weather, and of course use the Facebook sites and products. The whole, free.
If the Indian regulator has closed the door to Facebook, it is because its differentiated and incomplete access to the Internet between in his conflict with the principle of net neutrality, which theoretically ensures equal access to the Internet at all, as explained by TRAI:
“The question arose as to whether to allow a telecom operator to offer prices for different access to different content. As long as this question has no answer, it would not be appropriate to let this situation continue. “
Facebook, master of free
So, Facebook is master of the services available for free from Free Basics. For example, it is possible to access articles from the BBC, but the user wishing to read LeMonde.fr will pay. It is the same for search engines, as only that of Microsoft, Bing, is free.
The service was only launched in late November in India, but was already in control of the collimator from the beginning. Facebook had illico asked users to stand up for Free Basics India. Many observers have criticized the offer of social network and risks to net neutrality. “Free Basics / Internet.org [Facebook initiative to connect the developing world] is against freedom” , deplored eg Times of India in its editorial.
Offer Free Basics exists in thirty other countries, including some in Africa and Latin America. But India is an important market for Facebook, the second largest after the United States, with nearly 135 million users already. It is also a country where much of the population is not yet connected to the Internet, but could use Facebook if it was
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A gallery of Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook responded on Monday: CEO Mark Zuckerberg issued a forum on the website of Times of India , saying surprised ongoing debate in India.
“If we think that everyone should have access Internet, we must defend Free Basics. This is why more than thirty countries have recognized it as an agreement program with net neutrality and good for consumers. “
libraries ” do not contain all the books, but they still offer a world of possibilities “, argues he, and hospitals ” do not offer all treatments “, while comparing Free Basics for a public service and ensuring that it was not contrary to net neutrality.
Mark Zuckerberg, Internet access, limited but free, offered by Facebook helps break a barrier, and to bring the Net people who did not know the existence or did not know how to approach it. “Half of the people who use Free Basics to connect the first time to the Internet will begin to pay for full access within thirty days” , he said.
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