Facebook’s free basic service runs into trouble in India

India’s telecoms regulator has asked Reliance Communications, the mobile network that partnered with Facebook to put their Free Basics offer on hold.

In India, the data fees are unbelievably expensive and the initiative aims to prevent this being a deterrent.

Facebook’s efforts to provide the common man in India with free access to a limited number of internet services has already ran into trouble with the regulators.

Critics of the Free Basics internet service says it runs contrary to net neutrality principles. They, in fact, suggests that data providers should not pick and choose some online services over others by offering cheaper or faster access.

“As directed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the commercial launch of Free Basics has been kept in abeyance, until they consider all details and convey a specific approval as the watchdog wanted to examine the details and intrinsic of the offer” according TRAI spokesperson.

“ The question has arisen whether a telecom operator should be allowed to have differential pricing for various kinds of contents”.

Facebook said “ We are committed to Free Basics and to working with Reliance and the relevant authorities to help millions of people in India to get connected”. Facebook launched internet.org as a partnership with several mobile operators in emerging economies in 2013 to “ introduce poor people to the benefits of the internet and give them a voice”. This service is offered in 36 countries and Facebook says it believes more than 15 million new people have been brought online who would otherwise not be using the net.

Reliance Jio Infocomm’s unique service to offer content –streaming packages – unlike other mobile operator’s offerings- could lead to a price war that will benefit the consumer. Reliance Communications ( RCom)CEO Gurdeep Singh said “ we have brought on board one million Indians to experience internet for the first time and 30 per cent of its over 100 million mobile phone suscribers are on the internet at present and over half of these access it on the faster 3G premium services.

In India local start-ups complained that they risked being disadvantaged as they were not included in the internet content and in April 2015 larger groups that had initially signed up to the scheme pulled their services, stating the Free basics internet is failing to provide a “ fair, level playing field”.

Mark Zuckerberg, who hosted a visit by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Facebook’s headquarters in September 2015, however, warned that it was “not sustainable to offer the entire internet content for free”.