Bharti Airtel has defended its recently launched Priority Postpaid service before the department of telecommunications (DoT), arguing that the offering does not violate net neutrality norms and does not degrade the experience of prepaid customers, according to a communication sent by the company to the government and reviewed by FE.
The clarification comes after Airtel’s launch of Priority Postpaid, which uses 5G network slicing technology to offer a more stable and consistent network experience for postpaid users, triggered discussions within industry and policy circles around whether the service could create preferential treatment among subscriber categories. Airtel had announced that the service would automatically be available to postpaid users, while prepaid users seeking access would need to migrate to postpaid plans.
The launch had also revived memories of the 2015-16 net neutrality debate surrounding initiatives such as Facebook’s Free Basics and Airtel Zero, which were eventually stopped after concerns around preferential treatment of certain Internet services. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) subsequently introduced the “Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016”, which barred differential pricing based on content.
In its communication to DoT, Airtel has said that its Priority Postpaid offering differs fundamentally from earlier practices because it remains content-neutral and does not involve any blocking, throttling, preferential treatment of websites or applications, or zero-rating.
“There has been speculation about whether Airtel’s Priority Postpaid feature raises concerns around net neutrality or risks degrading the experience of prepaid customers. In reality, the technology upgrade delivers broad-based customer benefits across the network,” the company said in the communication.
To support its position, Airtel told DoT that its 5G network is currently operating at only 38% utilisation, while postpaid users account for merely 4% of this usage, leaving significant headroom to accommodate differentiated experiences without affecting the broader subscriber base.
The company further said that 5G technology itself is structurally more efficient than previous generations and can support a much larger number of devices simultaneously, particularly in high-density locations. Network slicing, according to Airtel, further enhances this capability by allowing more intelligent allocation of network resources.
According to the communication, Airtel also cited live network data and large-scale trials to claim that the rollout of Priority Postpaid had improved overall network quality without causing any deterioration in service for prepaid users.
The company additionally pointed to commercial considerations, stating that prepaid customers account for 92% of its subscriber base and contribute 88% of revenues. Any deterioration in prepaid user experience would therefore be contrary to the company’s own business interests, it said.
Airtel also sought to place the move in a broader global context, saying that network slicing has already seen commercial adoption in countries including the US, UK, Singapore and Malaysia and that more than 100 such implementations have been documented globally.
The company described network slicing as the only proven large-scale monetisation model for 5G and a foundational technology for future 6G networks.
Airtel did not respond to queries from FE regarding the communication sent to DoT.