Dear Sir/Madam,

With TRAI's recent request for opinion on the net neutrality subject, I offer my opinion​ as a concerned citizen. I believe data based services such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype, etc. to be indispensable in today's world for long distance communication, staying in touch with loved ones and conducting business. All these services are available for use currently at no charge by use of the internet. It is in the interest of telecom companies like Airtel to regulate and make users  pay for each and every service, and I am in serious opposition of this move. We are already paying wireless carriers and ISPs significant amounts for 3G data plans (that are barely functional and extremely slow these days, on a side note) and broadband plans. If telecom companies are allowed to charge per service, then these services will be totally inaccessible for poor folk, who can barely afford the fees as it is. This will stifle development severely in our country. Can you imagine a day when your wireless carrier bills you separate charges for Viber usage, a separate charge for WhatsApp usage and a separate charge for Facebook usage? This day is not far if legislation favouring the interests of the telecom companies are placed above the interests of the citizens. 

A recent FCC regulation in the United States promoting net neutrality should set the stage for what we should be also following in India. All internet traffic should be treated as is, with no preferential treatment to one type of traffic over the other. The Netherlands has also very sensibly enacted net neutrality laws to this effect. I hope TRAI also decides to implement the same.

I thank you for your time.