Let me start with a question.
Would you be willing to pay extra to have a particular content delivered to you at a premium price, so that you can access the same information faster? Or would you be willing to pay for a service that can be delivered on a higher priority as compared to its competitors? These are some of the issues that one needs to grapple with when we talk about Net Neutrality.
A quick search for it on Wikipedia mentions this: Network neutrality (also net neutrality, Internet neutrality) is a principle proposed for user access networks participating in the Internet that advocates no restrictions by the Internet Service Providers (ISP) and governments on content, sites, platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and no restrictions on the modes of communication allowed.
The principle also states that if a given user pays for a certain level of Internet access, and another user pays for the same level of access, then the two users should be able to connect to each other at the subscribed level of access.
This video on CNET demonstrates the concept very well.
Some of the proponents of Net Neutrality are large organizations like Yahoo, EBay, Amazon and individuals like Tim Berners Lee and Barack Obama. Groups like savetheinternet.com have been pretty active in promoting Net Neutrality too.
Looking at the other side of the coin, in simple words it means that in a non-net neutral world, if you are wanting to get a particular content, say like a video, and were willing to pay extra for it, the ISP would be able to do that for you as the information dissemination is at their disposal. If you wanted a Value Added Service (VAS) at a premium, there would be an option where you can get it.
From a business point of view one sees a huge possibility of the companies providing the services pay up extra to the ISPs to have their content delivered on priority. This could lead to competition, which at times could get unhealthy and this would create a divide in the Internet.
The question to ask is whether that is right and ethical. It’s like saying that there are difference in services from the ISPs and they are adapting a tiered approach to it. There are different parameters on which this tiers could be established. One is to structure the information on the basis of content type. Second is based on the business value and income patterns that one would associate with the content. And third could be based on demography, economic condition and the spending capacity of the consumer.
How does this impact a country like India?
It is a well known fact now that the Internet is going to be the medium of communication in the days to come. Internet revolution is catching up slowly, though if one was to go by the statistics. the penetration of the Internet is still very low in India. Having said that, the growth itself is a harbinger for the good times ahead for the ISPs. The first and foremost challenge that the ISPs in India would face is to ensure that the basic information reaches the right masses. In order to ensure this, there would need to classify the information. One already has seen instances of an ISP providing some access and information through some particular portals for free.
The other important thing that one cannot ignore is the rise of the mobile revolution. India now has more than 650 million consumers and this number is growing at a steady pace. The more encouraging factor is the growth of the access of Internet on the mobile. The rise of the the sale of Smart-phones due to the presence of players like Maxx mobile, Micromax, Karbonn etc has resulted in a lot of features being provided to the masses at a much lower price. With the 3G network coming into the picture soon, there is bound to be a demand for the rich media content. The channel for the distribution of these content will no doubt be the Internet over the mobile phones.
The above can be substantiated by the fact that in one of our Design Research projects, while traveling in the rural parts of Bihar, a teenager knew about Internet as a place where they could get a lot of information. And the moment they saw a smartphone in our hand, the first thing they asked was whether one can access Internet on this.
Coming back to the notion of Net Neutrality, how the ISPs here rise to the challenge will be interesting to see. One one hand the ISPs have the challenge of propagating Internet to a larger mass, that span across demographies within India and on the other hand you have a mass that is hungry for information at their disposal but are not willing to pay much.With the constantly falling ARPUs and the notion that the best information is the information that is got for Free, things will be challenging.
As Designers, one needs to be cognizant about the issues surrounding this notion. As we head into the times where the technology is no more a differentiator and the whole and sole satisfaction of any service that is consumed, lies on the User Experience, the rules of the game change.
Different countries have different rules in place and these will be further debated. Discussions will happen. India is not an Internet country still and it will take time before it does turn into one. It’s good that we are aware of the things to come.
This article is written, with inputs from Wikipedia.
I can be reached at info@kshitizanand.com
