INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Representatives of Europe BEREC (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications) and India TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India) met up yesterday to sign a join statement to promote an open internet.
This short document describes a set of rules to guarantee net
Those are some basic rules, such as equal treatment of internet traffic, a case-by-case assessment of zero-rating practices and more.
Both
the European Union and India have implemented regulation to ensure net neutrality already
But they now want to go further and work together on the same set of rules
Net neutrality is always evolving and rules need to be updated regularly
This collaboration should contribute to a unification of net neutrality.
Even more important than the statement itself, the timing of this
announcement is interesting
The FCC officially repealed net neutrality in the U.S
While other regulators can&t do anything about what happening in the U.S., they can make sure net neutrality remains intact in their own
country.
There a risk that the FCC decision triggers a domino effect
Telecom companies in other countries could lobby regulators to end net neutrality (the U.S
has done it, so why not us).
As ARCEP president Sébastien Soriano told me a few months ago, it time to show that there another way
And the best way to do it is by forming a group of countries and regulators who share the same principles
With India and the European Union, a good chunk of the world population is now clearly defending net neutrality.
Other countries could now
join this alliance and prove that net neutrality is important for innovation, competition and end customers.
