Category: Net Neutrality
Articles on Network Neutrality with a focus on emerging markets
Why We Need Universal Basic Internet Now
In 2015, Facebook launched its Free Basics app offering a limited suite of Internet services for free in partnership with mobile network operators (MNOs) around the world. This provoked widespread debate on whether Free Basics violated network neutrality principles that...
The Internet Is U-Shaped
When we think about the problem of achieving affordable access to the Internet for all, the discussion often focuses on broadband targets. These targets are moving goalposts as infrastructure improves. Broadband used to be defined at 256Kbps, now it might be...
Resolving the Free Basics Paradox
Today the Indian communication regulator announced that it would forbid the provision of differential pricing for data services on the basis of content. This decision effectively bans Facebook’s Free Basics initiative which offers access to Facebook and a suite of other content...
Zero-Rating: A Modest Proposal
Imagine a world where all phones were automatically connected to the Internet, at no charge. Is this an idle fantasy? The current worldwide debate about Zero-Rating and Network Neutrality has brought the issue of affordable Internet access into sharp relief....
Zero-Rating, Net Neutrality, and the Regulatory Toolbox
The tools available to communication regulators to ensure a fair, competitive market fall into two broad categories. The first category is the ability to incentivise more competition and better behaviour in general. This can happen through lowering the barriers to...