Telecom Regulatory Authority of India: Letter to Facebook [pdf]
trai.gov.in
trai.gov.in
• First, Facebook tried to mislead it's users into sending emails to TRAI which just said "We support Free Basics".
• After receiving hordes of such emails, TRAI picked on Facebook to communicate with the senders in order to advise them to send emails that contained answers to the consultation. Accordingly, TRAI extended the consultation period by 7 days.
• Facebook responded towards the end of the period that they were unable to reach users. Apparently, they claimed in their letter to TRAI that peoples' support for Free Basics in the emails (somehow) translated to answers to TRAI's questions.
• Facebook claimed that 11 million emails were sent to TRAI through their platform. TRAI says it only received 1.89 million.
• TRAI has declared that it has not received any revised responses.
* Free incoming calls
* state-level number portability so you can switch carriers and hang on to the old number
* national level number portability
* compensation to callers for dropped calls -- an incentive for telecoms to uphold a certain level of service quality
* and now, a stern reply to FB's misleading campaign on free basics.
India as a result has very healthy competition in the telecom space, and the lowest rates in the world.
Kudos, TRAI.
What about when it goes against users ? Even now, it has gone against some users. Why do you think its a good thing for <1000 people (TRAI) to affect 1.25 billion ?
The goverment intervention was absolutely unnecessary. They should have left it to market to judge.
Because that's what I want. Multi-national tech companies going around the world raping economies because "we'll let the market judge".
I'll take regulators please. Slower progress is better sliding backwards.
I acknowledge that not everyone can think/worry about everything. Hence why there would be always need of regulatory/look-out-for-me authorities. However, in this fast paced and diverse world, I propose that they should be opt-in/opt-out.
You move.
//The goverment intervention was absolutely unnecessary. They should have left it to market to judge. // Regulation is necessary, we cannot let the giants pollute the open internet
The submitted title was "[India] TRAI is going hammer and tongs after Facebook [pdf]". If someone suggests a better title, we can change it again.