Free vs Charged

What is all this hullabaloo over the net neutrality? 

It certainly has to do with keeping the internet access with all its content at the same cost, to all its consumers without any discrimination. 

If that has been happening since long, then why has the regulatory authority in India been so keen on unsettling the working scenario. Maybe the nostalgia shop can explain it best - what comes free of cost, what is paid and what is not. 

Let us quickly zip through the time when a trunk call was placed from a vintage phone to placing a call from an application on the smart phone.

Remember there used to be a time when placing a trunk call involved the caller asking operator to connect a call. The good old rotary dial phone had quite a process in placing a call: after picking the handset from the cradle, one had to listen for a dial tone. Then using the index finger to rotate the dial clockwise until a metal stop was reached, for each number dialed. 

Well, quite a process it was. 

It was over a period of time replaced by the button dial corded landline phone. Followed by an even more convenient cordless phone. All this was serviced by the telecom authority who charged by the duration of the call against the distance the call was routed over.

Phone booths sprouted for the convenience of the people with coin operated and calling card modes. When the attractive red telephone box became an icon in Britain, India had a familiar red-yellow STD/ISD call booth. 

The emergence of internet had an internet cafe operating along with the calling booth. Self employed people found this to be an attractive business venture. But not for long.

Good things being replaced for the better

You see when disruptions happen, they take apart many established ventures all down to the dust. That is exactly what happened when mobile telephony kicked into the world. The calling booth business was almost destroyed overnight. 

The regulatory authority continued to maintain its authority over charging customers through the mobile operators. There was a steady decline in the landline business with mobile telephony gaining precedence. However no confusion existed over billing the subscribers.

Mobile telephony saw the rise of handset manufacturers like Nokia and mobile operators were happy to charge calls along with SMS service. Steve Jobs led iPhone happened in 2007 and mobile applications became the next game changer. 

Come 2015, the mobile operators found itself on the brink of extinction, with a simple green buttoned app called ‘Whatsapp’ that had the power to decimate the business of SMS and voice calls.

This had the mobile operators crying foul over their lost revenue and seeking support from the regulatory authority from losing the controlling stake. But internet being an ubiquitous entity, did not come under a certain geographical authority. 

The internet rules were in alignment with a global consortium and telecom itself was seeking a stand in placing the internet under its portfolio. While landline and mobile came under telephony, internet related services were placed under the VAS (value added services) category - with the charging being done under a data plan by the mobile operator.

Coming to the point of the applications starting to take a bite from their revenue by piggybacking on their infrastructure, which had the operators going up-in-arms at what they felt was wrong. 

Once upon a time the very operator who used to charge Rs 5 per SMS then brought it down to Rs 2 to Rs 1 and now almost free. But now with the free services at offer from the application providers, the disruptors would become disrupted.

The telecom regulatory authority did not relent to the operators request of charging separately for the service. But when Facebook.org called for a revolution by offering certain internet services free of charge, the authority took a step back and went for public opinion. 

This time the net neutrality was at stake and people took to protest against it. (Giving certain application services free of charge in this context would provide those elite few undue advantage over other application service providers.)

As mentioned earlier, good things can get replaced for the better. Cassettes made way for CD/DVD, Film roll camera with digital camera, Walkman for iPod, Encylopedia Britannica for Wikipedia and many more. 

Most of these started giving away content for free which were once a paid service model. All these have resulted in the earlier services providers going out of business.

But how can someone provide free service and still sustain the business. That is through innovative ways of monetizing the services on offer.

Most of these have the free vs charged subtly hidden away from the consumers. Its up to the consumer to see beyond the thin veil of disclosure and protect his interests.

Let good things get even better, with some imagining utopia, while others wise enough to take a bite out of reality.