Mark Zuckerberg’s Free Basics on hold till at least end of January in India

At the moment, India has become a battleground for Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to roll out Facebook’s Free Basics program with the telecom regulator or Trai confirming that the plan is reportedly on hold till the end of January. According to the CEO, Free Basics in India has been attacked by many as designed to violate the principles of net neutrality. Over the past few weeks, Facebook has urged users in India to send a response to Trai, both through its social networking platform and through mobiles by dialling a number that automatically generates a response on the users’ behalf. In addition, the company has also issued a series of full-page newspaper advertisements and billboard banners in an aggressive campaign. He also appeared on a video to personally promote Free Basics and also wrote a personal appeal in one of the leading newspapers. “We believe that connectivity is a human right and that getting connectivity for the world is one of the fundamental challenges of our generation. When people are connected, we can accomplish some pretty amazing things. We can get closer to the people that we care about, we can get access to new jobs and opportunities and ideas. We can receive education and healthcare and communication and access to new services,” he said in the video post. Critics, however, say that Free Basics violates the principal of net neutrality by offering some services for free, giving them an advantage over competitors. Also, Facebook acts as a gatekeeper for Free Basics, permitting some services, while rejecting others. Trai had also asked Reliance Communications (RCom) to put Facebook’s Free Basics service on hold, according to a report by The Times of India. Reliance Communications is the only telecom partner to offer a basic set of internet services free to its subscribers in India. The report quotes a senior government official as saying, “We have asked them (Reliance Communications) to stop it and they have given us a compliance report that it has been stopped.” Free Basics, which was earlier known as Internet.org, has been criticised heavily in India as being against net neutrality. Facebook also wants you to act now and save the ‘free’ internet . It’s interesting how the debate to protect net neutrality began with activists setting up a website (savetheinternet.in). And now Facebook is taking the same route, but countering the net neutrality camp by influencing its user base to send emails to Trai that renders their support for Free Basics in India.