Technoglitch
Core Member
Facebook's aggressive Free Basics campaign backfired on Thursday with the telecom regulator TRAI asking respondents to its 'Net Neutrality' consultation paper to comment on specific issues rather than following a template provided by the social media giant.
TRAI, which on Wednesday extended the deadline for submission of comments till January 7 amid an intensified campaign for and against Free Basics, said a large percentage of the record number of 18.27 lakh responses have been only about supporting the specific Facebook product without answering the larger issue of 'differential pricing' concerning Net Neutrality.
TRAI, which has already ordered Free Basics to be put on hold in India, is now likely to finalise views on the issue of Net Neutrality by January-end.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Chairman R S Sharma said that a record 18.27 lakh responses have been received so far, of which a large percentage are about supporting a specific product called Free Basics.
Indicating that the whole consultation process could have been hijacked, Sharma said: "It is like we have asked Question X and they have given answer to the Question Y."
He said the authority has received 8.9 lakh responses supporting Free Basics where the respondents have just given their mobile number whereas 5.44 lakh comments are received through Facebook mail.
"... so about 14.34 lakh are such comments. Now the problem for this is that we had asked for response to the specific question of differential pricing... instead we have got responses on supporting Free Basics. Now how supporting Free Basics help in answering the questions... it has become difficult for us to arrive at," Sharma said.
Facebook hits TRAI wall; supporters asked for specific replies
TRAI, which on Wednesday extended the deadline for submission of comments till January 7 amid an intensified campaign for and against Free Basics, said a large percentage of the record number of 18.27 lakh responses have been only about supporting the specific Facebook product without answering the larger issue of 'differential pricing' concerning Net Neutrality.
TRAI, which has already ordered Free Basics to be put on hold in India, is now likely to finalise views on the issue of Net Neutrality by January-end.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Chairman R S Sharma said that a record 18.27 lakh responses have been received so far, of which a large percentage are about supporting a specific product called Free Basics.
Indicating that the whole consultation process could have been hijacked, Sharma said: "It is like we have asked Question X and they have given answer to the Question Y."
He said the authority has received 8.9 lakh responses supporting Free Basics where the respondents have just given their mobile number whereas 5.44 lakh comments are received through Facebook mail.
"... so about 14.34 lakh are such comments. Now the problem for this is that we had asked for response to the specific question of differential pricing... instead we have got responses on supporting Free Basics. Now how supporting Free Basics help in answering the questions... it has become difficult for us to arrive at," Sharma said.
Facebook hits TRAI wall; supporters asked for specific replies
