NEW DELHI: Sector watchdog Trai is on a timeclock. It just have four days left to break the impasse on net neutrality debate that drew a faultline between telcos and the rest of India (well, almost). Having received lakhs of messages from multiple stakeholders, will the January, 31 deadline be met? R S Sharma, Chairman, Trai didn’t give any clear answers.
“I cannot comment on the timeline, but we are ‘very soon’ going to come out with our stand. We are delibrating on all the inputs we have received,” he told Express.
On the other hand, ambiguity prevails for both telcos and those batting for net neutrality. “We don’t know if Trai will keep their time commitment, or whether this will be an executive order (immediately enforceable) or a recommendation to DoT,” said Kiran Jonnalagadda of SaveTheInternet.in.
A recent open-house discussion on ‘differential pricing of data services,’ saw huge participation from telecos, consumer rights groups, industry bodies and individuals.