TelecomLive April-2020

Net Neutrality Telecom LIVE April 2020 44 www.telecomlive.com with this role. Airtel strongly discouraged the need for an MSB, saying net neu- trality principles are already part of a telco's licensing norms, and DoT is fully empowered to ensure compliance. “If it's (still) decided to estab- lish an MSB, it should be man- dated to advice DoT on enforcing net neutrality principles on enti- ties, other than telecom / internet service providers, such as content providers, device makers, brows- ers who also have significant impact on internet traffic,” Airtel said in its submissions to Trai. Airtel has also pointed out that the government has not taken any step to apply the net neutrality rules on content providers and mobile apps despite the power these entities wield in the internet ecosystem. “Netflix has admitted in the past they were throttling their content on AT&T and Verizon's networks,” Airtel said. US browser maker Mozilla Corp called for stringent enforcement of net neutrality rules. “A truly empowered and diverse multi- stakeholder advisory body would go a long way in cementing India's position as a leader in net neutral- ity regulation globally,” the com- pany said. Software services body Nasscom also wants the proposed T rai has received responses for its con- sultation paper on “Traffic Management Practices (TMPs) and Multi-Stakeholder Body (MSB) for Net Neutrality.” While many stakeholders have submitted their responses, the response of Reli- ance Jio is most elaborate, and hence the extracts of the same have been reproduced herein for our readers as box (pg 45 to 47). Both Airtel and Reliance Jio, while agreeing in-principle to maintain net neutrality, have stated that there is no need to form a new MSB as an existing industry body can be mandated Net Neutrality Trai gets responses on Traffic Management Practices and Multi-Stakeholder Body