Amid the debate on net neutrality in India and across the world, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Monday that a six-member panel of the department of telecommunications ( DoT) will come out with its report on the subject by the second week of May.
Prasad said the DoT committee will look into the process of net neutrality that will help the government make a comprehensive decision.
Interestingly, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has also come out with a consultation paper on whether over-the-top-operators should be brought under some sort of regulation. The process of seeking stakeholder comments is currently on.
“This is for the first time that we have formed our own DoT panel in this regard, independently of Trai due to the gravity of the matter. We feel the internet is the finest creation of the human mind. The internet should have linkages to the common man in a non-discriminatory manner,” the telecom minister said.
Prasad said once the report of the DoT committee and Trai’s recommendations are through, they would be examined by the telecom commission — the highest apex policymaking body in the telecom department — before a final decision on the matter is taken.
The DoT had set up a six-member internal panel led by member (technical) AK Bhargava in January this year to study the subject and come out with its report.
“The government can disagree with Trai’s recommendations. But we have to first look at what the Trai recommendations are,” the minister said.
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