A leading Media House that projects itself as champion of tolerance debate shows its intolerant side and begins the worst kind of lobbying as TRAI releases its consultation paper on free data. It has already projected it as anti people and has published statements of so called experts who have no contribution to the industry or society.
 
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Thursday released a consultation paper to explore whether Telecom operators provide some kind of free data without violating its earlier regulation.
 
The regulator has, however, made it clear that the scope of providing free data would be only through an operator-agnostic platform. This means that the Telcos cannot play the role of gatekeepers.
 
Trai has suggested three models for free data while inviting suggestions for more. The first model is the reward one wherein content providers give cash back or free minutes or free recharge to consumers who download apps or similar content from their services platforms.
 
The second model suggested is very similar to the first but instead of a reward or cash back there’s no data charge for consumers. Thus in essence it is similar to Airtel’s zero rating or Facebook’s Free Basics, which are now prohibited.
 
However, Trai now says it can be allowed if the operators do not play the role of gatekeepers but remain passive. This means that if any content provider makes any of its service free of charge, it has to apply to the subscribers of all the mobile operators and vice versa.

The third model is a direct subsidy model wherein the content provider reimburses a certain sum directly into the bank accounts of consumers for surfing a site or downloading an app.

This is to be noted that this is only a consultation paper and the regulator is just seeking views from stake holders.