Flipkart quits Airtel Zero in support of Net Neutrality

Activist Backlash made Flipkart pull out from the scheme

'We at Flipkart has always strongly believed in the concept of net neutrality, for we exist because of the internet' - Flipkart.

Airtel, the leading Indian Telecom company, started a scheme 'Airtel Zero' which made way for the website to have preferential treatment but for a fee. It promised free consumer browsing and special promotion campaigns for companies which subscribed to the plan. But net neutrality envisages that all data and websites should be treated equally and charged equally.

Severe social media criticism and downgrading of its rating app stores has persuaded Flipkart to pull out of Airtel Zero. 

See also: TRAI's consultation paper on Over-the-top (OTT) service

Net Neutrality:

The term net neutrality was coined by Columbia University professor Tim Wu in 2003. It is the principle that mobile operators, internet service providers and governments should not discriminate on data access on the Internet. A service provider, for instance, should not offer a higher access speed to a website on the basis of a higher payment by that website.

Internet Companies response:

Most internet companies and startups denounced the zero-rating deal of the telecom operators. Zero-rating is against net-neutrality.

Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekar Sharma said telecom players are national utilities and not a marketing platform to run such a programme when asked about Zero-Ratings.

'Telecom infrastructure must be a open ecosystem...'

Internet has disrupted the world of business like no other technology in the world. With penetration of Internet, the growth of online entrepreneurship has grown many fold. The Technology has paved way for smaller startup to setup its market. 

'By rejecting the net neutrality, we'll be shutting the door on the entrepreneurial aspirations of millions' - Ritesh Agarwal, CEO of Oyo Rooms.

Net Neutrality is essential to maintain free and competitive market. As the regulatory framework for net neutrality is unclear and equivocal, the telecom companies are trying to make a dent into the market with sponsored contents from publishers for a fee. While the Zero-rating is an innovation in Indian telecom business, yet it hampers the free and competitive internet. It may lead to few choice to the consumers considering the preferential treatment for few websites.

However, Rajan S Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operations Association of India (COAI) said a distinction must be made between zero rating and net neutrality. He said telecom operators are not violating any terms and conditions that came attached with spectrum. They are waiting for TRAI framework on net neutrality and find a way out of problems.

As usual, Telecom companies will find its way to circumvent rules and laws once TRAI defines a framework for net neutrality. 

Net Neutrality Law:

Chile was the first country to introduce Net Neutrality law in 2010. It was a popular movement by Neutralidad Si. In 2014, Chile Telecom regulator banned mobile operators from zero-rating websites.

It was followed by Netherlands in the year 2011. The footsteps were followed by Belguim, France, Solvenia. Later, European Union (EU) adopted laws passed by the Netherlands which now provides uniform net neutrality law. Zero-rating has been banned in EU. 

In 2014, Brazil followed the footstep and enacted law principled at net neutrality. It states all data transmissions must be treated equally.

Later, USA's Federal Communications Commission laid down new rules on net neutrality. At&t, Verizon and Comcast are not allowed to block lawful contents, slow down applications or services, or accept fees for favorable treatment.

SaveTheInternet:

In India, in response to consultation paper from TRAI, Indian Telecom Regulator, SaveTheInternet to uphold net neutrality in India. 

Google issue Memo in response to Statement of Objection (SO) from European Commission for Competition

Google has responded to the European Commission's Statement of Objections (SO) which is to issued soon. It has issued internal memo, Google has issued statement and asked it Googlers not to comment on the pending legal issue but to do well on the usual work of producing quality products and services.

Google, along with data form ComScore MMX, Google data, desktop traffic, unique visitors, has supported it arguments against the SO that is to be issued by European Commission. In memo, it has released the data analysis from various sources and indicated searches in France, Germany , UK. Those analysis were made on search on Shopping and travel in the respective countries. 

Google has stated that such SO issued by European commission is not a final findings. It is just initiation of process. It is a document in which the commission staff sets out its preliminary arguments so that the company in question can respond. Google has also mentioned that SO are modified or settled the case by the commission. If the settlement is remote, the commission issues an infringement decision, which can be appealed in court.

Google has assured that it has strong case. It, further, cited that commission has previously opened and closed an inquiry into iTunes few years ago. 

"we have a very strong case, with especially good arguments when it comes to better services for users and increased competition." - Memo to Googlers.

Google has acknowledged increased quality and competition in the search market. Google has took preemptive steps as the company anticipates proceedings against Android shortly from the European Commission for competition. It has set out that Android comes with apps with no restriction. Many devices are sold with other competitors apps such as Facebook, Microsoft Office, Amazon, etc. And further stated that consumers have a lot of choice and they are exercising it.

'Finally, we know the upcoming announcements will be distracting. But you can help in two ways. First, by not commenting on pending legal issues, internally or externally. And second, by focusing on what you all do best... building great products that serve our users and customers.' - Memo to Googlers.

Update:

'Since Google Shopping is all ads, Google could just close the standalone service in EU, keep running ads in main results & maybe be fine' - +Danny Sullivan  on Twitter.

European Commission for Competition has initiated antitrust proceedings. Google must place it rebuttals before the commission. 

Is your Website mobile-friendly? Test your website with new tool.

Google Adsense has made an announcement today that test your website for mobile-friendliness. 

'You can check your site by testing your pages with the Mobile-Friendly Test tool. This tool shows how Google Search sees your pages. To get a list of mobile usability issues across your sites, log in to your Webmaster Tools account and use the Mobile Usability Report.' - Google Adsense

Google has launched a new tools to check websites for mobile-friendly version. The website may be internet blog or business website. Making your website mobile-friendly will help increase your presence on mobile Google search.

See also: Make money online with this simple steps

With increase of Smartphone market, most internet traffic is driven by the mobile networks. Most people who use Smartphone such as Android, Microsoft, iPhone prefer to place orders from Smartphones. The use of PC, laptops has reduced when it comes to browsing information. Though you need PC, laptops, workstation for your work, people tend to use smartphone for most of the personal work such as Google Search, buying or selling, location, etc.

With e-commerce penetration, purchases made through smartphones may surpass orders placed through PCs. One important factor is convenience. Just a tap over the screen, brings home the product. This make smartphones most preferred device than PCs. 

With Google Adsense making announcement for optimizing websites for mobile, the update which was made recently to the mobile search will provide advantages to sites which are mobile-friendly. 

Yet, Google has made advisory for mobile-friendly sites. It has called for further optimization. Go mobile today to provide your visitors a good user experience and to make use of your mobile traffic. Check the new tool here.

Bing SERP: Good news we have got, Bing is mulling to implement its own ranking algorithm for mobile friendly websites! Day by day responsive design play vital role. Designing for mobile takes the top most priority than desktop. With smartphone penetration, mobile friendly websites take pivotal role in business penetration. 

See also: Myntra Shuts down website

For bloggers, implement one of the best responsive web design to stay on top of results. With wordpress, blogger, hubpages, blog.com, the default themes are mobile friendly. But people who have implemented own theme or paid theme has to make sure theme is responsive and support different dimensions of screens. For mobile ranking will play critical role for generating traffic. 

If you like the post, share or tweet to provide your support.

Make Money from Internet

Best ad network for your blog to make money from internet

Did you ever wonder how make a blogging successful? As you would observe, most blogs are Wordpress blog hosted on Linux box. How do that webmaster could sustain hosting charges? That's where the ad networks come into play. If you have a blog which qualifies with unique content then ad networks are ready to play. This method reduce your burden on selecting best ads that are displayed in your blog as the better related ads are placed by the network. All we have to do is to provide a exclusive space for the display. Rest is taken care by the ad network.

See also: Effective and simple steps in marketing strategy 

Now comes the interesting part, which is the best ad network to start with. With all popularity, Google Adsense stand at podium. But reality is most websites, especially, blogs fail to get well with Adsense. Though Google Adsense be like godfather of ad network, you have alternative to get income from your blogs. 

For them who find difficulty to get into popular ad network may try infolinks. Infolinks approval is quite easy. Those who use any blogging platform like blogger, wordpress, drupal, joomla, integration would take less than a minute. 

Though it may take couple of days for the approval, you will not find any stringent conditions as we might find in other ad networks.

I was able to monetize my first blog within a week. The ads started flouting with an hour of approval. 

Sign up for an Infolink account today, start earning money through your blog. 

Get Ready To Pay for WhatsApp, Viber, Hike, Blackberry,etc

Airtel, a leading telecom company, which advocated for separate charges for (Over-The-Top)OTT has turned huge tide. The Regulatory authority has moved consultation paper to levy separate charge for OTT. The deadline to submit suggestion is April 24, 2015. This move have challenged the very net neutrality in India. If the regulatory authority approves such move, then get ready guys, we have to pay for all video and voice calls in messaging services. Apart from data charges we have to shell out extra charges in the OTT charges. No more chit chats!

OTT (Over-The-Top):

1. 'In broadcasting, over-the-top content (OTT) refers to delivery of audio, video, and other media over the Internet without the involvement of a multiple-system operator in the control or distribution of the content.' - Wikipedia
2. Until now telecom operators don't distinguish OTT and other browsing data. But the regulatory authority was forced move which will prompt a distinction which will lead to hefty phone bills in future. 

Save The Internet!

An online campaign has started against the TRAI move to allow telecom operators to levy charge on OTT. Visit savetheinternet.in to lodge your protest today. Click on 'respond to Trai now or edit answer' to lodge your protest.

If not now, as a user of internet, we will lose our rights forever. Our free and neutral internet will be under the grip of telecom operators. The choice of network will depend on the choice of service offered. The leading telecom operators lobby for favoritism over other networks, concession for using particular service over their networks. 


We are under pressure to decide our future internet. If we lose now, you will lose it forever. Stand against the move to uphold net neutrality. 

It may appear as a simple move. But soon it may outrun us. One day, apart from exorbitant charge for data connection which we pay today, we will be forced to pay for every single message which are sent and received through internet messengers. It is high-time to lodge your response to maintain net neutrality in India.

My humble request is to lodge your response by visiting savetheinternet.in and send an email to TRAI protesting against the proposed move.

The first day saw a 27,000 emails in response to the consultation paper. But considering the number of internet users in India, we need more people to respond to the consultation paper to uphold net neutrality. Provide your support today! Have a happy future!

Update as on April 28, 2015: The crisis worsen as the Telecom operators like Airtel, vodafone, Idea has appealed with the Government to charge for OTT services today. Once TRAI grants approval then next target would be preferred content network by telecom operators. The Airtel Zero will get it's rigor back and will engulf user experience with sponsored contents based on Zero ratings.

If corporate lobby extends to the TRAI consultation then all is lost for Indian Internet users. Than the widely publicized broadband connection in 2003, mobile data cover vast majority of the internet users. The easy to setup and use network now faces challenge posed by the service providers. As no concrete net neutrality law is in place, which now making telecom operator to encroach upon mobile internet as and when they need to. Most prime target of these move is the internet messaging application whatsapp. As Indian user base vast, tapping the minimal charge over this OTT service will boost revenue of those telecom companies. With gross profit on mind, service providers started muddling with OTT service.

One day, telecom operators will invade your privacy if such trend gets approval from TRAI. Whatever these telecom operators dictate will be the laws of internet if not nipped in the bud.  TRAI, telecom regulator of India, yet to respond on the consultation paper on OTT services. Stay tuned for the updates. 

NOTE: To add insult to the injury, TRAI, listed 1 million user name and email id of those who sent reply to the consultation paper on OTT services. Well, a Telecom regulator of a country provides 1 million email id for spammers and marketers to solicit. Have you seen such a pathetic situation in any other country? Please share your opinion through comments. (Source: Times of India, link: 1 million email id exposed)