Call it the turf war between new-age social media entrepreneurs led by poster-boy Mark Zuckerberg and traditional telecom companies like Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Telenor.
The Mobile World Congress — a platform for showcasing cutting-edge technologies and trendy gadgets — has turned into quite a battleground where you have Zuckerberg on one side and telecom operators on the other, fighting over whether certain services on the internet need to be distributed free-of-cost, many a times at the expense of the concept of net neutrality, which calls for unhindered access to all services.
The telecom companies, which are investing billions of dollars for spectrum acquisition and spreading towers and optical fibre network, accuse Zuckerberg of serving his personal business interests through the near-philanthropic calls of providing internet for free in every corner of the world, including Facebook.
Top telecom operators are up in arms, saying that internet.org is a cover that Zuckerberg has taken for spreading the reach of Facebook free-of-cost, and at their expense. "That is not fair. It is almost like Zuckerberg does philanthropy, but with my money," Vittorio Colao, Vodafone chief, said.
Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, agrees with Colao. Mittal met Zuckerberg over dinner, but disagrees with his free internet calls.
The operators argue that Facebook and other social media companies are earnings billions of dollars in revenues and valuation by having a free ride on their expensive networks.
Read more: Facebook, telcos battle over free access to net - The Times of India
