A discussion zero rating net neutrality and why the Caribbean ought to vigilant about it.<\/em><\/p>\n
For those who have been with us from the beginning, you may recall that one of our earliest articles here on ICT Pulse was on Internet (net) neutrality, and we have been keeping tabs of the debate over the years. Since our launch in 2011, net neutrality has escalated in importance, and recently, there was a landmark ruling by the United States (US) Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in support of net neutrality.<\/p>\n
Essentially, the US ruling, which to varying degrees is consistent with that adopted by a number of developed countries worldwide, bans practices that could harm an Open Internet, such as blocking, throttling and paid prioritisation (Source: FCC<\/a>). All of those actions can be construed as \u201cnegative discrimination\u201d \u2013 where a telecoms carrier penalises specific customers or service providers, and not others. However, many of the regulatory rulings to date have been silent on what should obtain when positive discrimination \u2013 in the net neutrality context \u2013 has occurred.<\/p>\n
Unlike \u201cfast lane discrimination\u201d, where telecoms carriers charge content providers (for example) a premium for increased bandwidth and\/or priority access, \u201czero rating\u201d speaks to customers accessing to certain services for free, usually on a mobile\/cellular device. Hence use of those specific services, for which special arrangements would have been established between the carrier and the content provider, would not consume any data under a subscriber\u2019s mobile\/cellular data cap allowance, whilst other similar services would not enjoy the same privilege.<\/p>\n
In the Caribbean, some of our mobile\/cellular carriers have established preferred arrangements with content providers. A prominent example is the fact that Digicel\u2019s mobile Internet customers across the region enjoy free access to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Wikipedia and Twitter, thus freeing up their data cap allowance be used to access other sites and content.<\/p>\n
At first glance, it could be argued that Digicel has done a good thing by permitting free access to certain online properties. There are still large portions of our population across the region who cannot truly afford mobile\/cellular Internet service; hence free access to select content can stimulate interest, and provide an opportunity to experience the benefits of being online.<\/p>\n
Although the argument could be made that this free access is narrowing the digital divide, the difficulty lies in its effect on the wider ecosystem:<\/p>\n
At the core, the mobile\/cellular carrier is discriminating against certain online properties and\/or content, instead of being impartial and allowing equitable access to its subscribers.<\/p>\n
Further, in this digital age, traffic \u2013 the number of visitors accessing websites and content \u2013 is a key measure of success. Hence environments that support zero rating net neutrality, be it implicitly or explicitly, are essentially supporting the throttling of certain online services and content.<\/p>\n
In the Caribbean, we have a small but growing tech space, where software developers and entrepreneurs are creating applications and services, many of which require access to the Internet and\/or are designed for mobile\/cellular devices. However, unless they enjoy preferential arrangements with a mobile\/cellular carrier, similar to what the carrier has established with other platforms, they may inherently be marginalised.<\/p>\n
Further, a carrier could seek to leverage the control it wields regarding customer behaviour by instituting certain demands when negotiating preferential arrangements with content providers. For our local and regional start-ups and small businesses, they may be at the mercy of the carrier and find themselves having to accept less than favourable conditions in order to secure some visibility among the carrier\u2019s subscriber base.<\/p>\n
In summary, although zero rating net neutrality can benefit end-users, it introduces inequity in how content providers are treated. It could also be argued that zero rating net neutrality tacitly fosters censorship, as telecoms infrastructure and access carriers are in a position to promote certain content over others.<\/p>\n
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Image credit: Sean Weigold Ferguson<\/a> (flickr) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
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