Why is net neutrality regaining importance with the Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook-Jio deal?

Net neutrality – a term that simply means that the internet for every human being will remain non-discriminatory and unrestricted. On July 11, 2018, The Telecom Commission (TC), the highest decision-making body in the telecom ministry, approved net neutrality rules that prohibit internet service providers (ISPs) from discriminating between their web traffic. The decision taken that day ensured that the internet for Indians would continue to remain non-discriminatory and unrestricted.

When these rules came into effect, it implied that the Telecom Commission accepted Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) recommendations, which indicated that ISPs have no right to block any web traffic or offer fast lanes for content providers who pay for the privilege.

Facebook, at that time, bore the biggest consequence of this rule. And when this rule was implemented Facebook had no hopes of reviving its 2016-banned Free Basics and Internet.org. Facebook couldn’t get Free Basics off the ground because it violated India’s net neutrality laws.

But Mark Zuckerberg believed that his idea had the power to enable more people to gain internet access. Zuckerberg believed that for people who are not on the Internet, having some connectivity and some ability to share is always much better than having no ability to connect and share at all. He thought access to internet could render vast benefits like access to education, health information, jobs, and so on.

When he was asked to comment about India’s net neutrality laws, Zuckerberg had expressed that programs like Internet.org were important and could co-exist with net neutrality regulations. According to his estimation for every billion people connected on the internet equals to pulling out 100 million people out of poverty.

The Internet is one of the most powerful tools for economic and social progress. It gives people access to jobs, knowledge, and opportunities. It gives voice to the voiceless in a society, and it connects people with vital resources for health and education, believes Zuckerberg. On the basis of these abilities, Zuckerberg created Internet.org – an effort to connect the whole world. By partnering with mobile operators and governments in different countries, Internet.org was meant to offer free access in local languages to basic internet services in areas like jobs, health, education, and messaging.

In India, Internet.org. was rolled out as free basic services on the then Reliance Network to millions of people in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, and Telangana. But this initiative received backlash from various people who criticized the concept of zero-rating that allows Internet.org to deliver free basic internet services, saying that offering some services for free goes against the spirit of net neutrality. So, India’s strong net neutrality laws prevented Zuckerberg’s free internet concept.

But, the latest announcement on Facebook buying a 9.99% stake in the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries’ Jio for Rs 44,000 crores seems like a phoenix bird type emergence of Zuckerberg’s long-time dream. Facebook now has become Jio’s largest minority stakeholder. With this investment, Zuckerberg has an opportunity to revive his attempt to enable free Internet access to a population-dense country like India.

While Facebook has access to 700 million Indian users between itself, WhatsApp and Instagram, the partnership with Jio might give it access to 388 million Jio customers who are spanned well in India’s urban as well as rural areas. Integration of Jio products especially JioMart is expected to open up unseen possibilities for Facebook.

Understanding the digital ecosystem of India, Jio has managed to change how India uses the internet in just 3 years. Also, India is Facebook's largest market in terms of the user base, and Jio is India's largest Internet/telecom provider with over 388 million users of its network. And with the penetration of Jio combining with the product prowess of Facebook & Whatsapp, India's next 500 million internet users are going to witness, perhaps, a very different Internet than what the country has experienced so far. What we are going to wait and watch is how Facebook Apps are going to get preferential treatment on Reliance Jio's network and its standings on the net neutrality laws of India?