Faster internet for specialized services might soon be available
What's the story
The Indian government is considering a review of its net neutrality framework to allow telecom operators to offer differentiated internet connectivity and speeds, as per Economic Times. This change would aid specialized services like cloud gaming, healthcare, autonomous vehicles, and smart factories. Currently, the framework prohibits such preferential treatment of connectivity for specialized services. The review comes in light of rapid advancements in technology, particularly 5G network slicing.
Rule review
Net neutrality and its implications
Net neutrality mandates equal treatment of all internet traffic without blocking, throttling, or prioritizing specific content.
However, the emergence of 5G slicing has raised questions about its applicability to new enterprise and consumer use cases.
An official told The Economic Times that recommendations have been sought from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on necessary changes or clarifications in the net neutrality rules.
Internet integrity
Safeguards to prevent 'walled garden' approach
The official emphasized that any changes would not compromise the core principle of an open internet.
Safeguards will be implemented to prevent a "walled garden" approach, ensuring paid preferential treatment for specific content isn't allowed.
Under 5G slicing, telecom operators can create multiple virtual networks on the same infrastructure, each customized for different applications.
This allows dedicated bandwidth for specialized services while regular internet usage remains unaffected on a separate slice.
Industry response
Global adoption of network slicing
Notably, Bharti Airtel has already launched a service using 5G slicing to provide improved speeds and lower latency to select postpaid customers.
This offering is currently under examination by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and TRAI.
Similarly, Reliance Jio plans to use 5G slicing for better network capacity and coverage in dense urban areas.
Countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, and China are already using 5G network slicing for differentiated services.