Marlinspike

This is a draft response to TRAI on their consultation paper on Differential Pricing for Data Services. Please feel free to comment, suggest improvements and most importantly use in part or in whole to send in your comments in support of  Differential Pricing for Data Services. (Structure borrowed from the STI campaign) Emails should be sent to  advisorfea1@trai.gov.in Dear Sir, Thank you for this Consultation Paper on Differential Pricing for Data Services; The TRAI should bring in rules that foster innovation not just in the Internet services Domain, but also in the domain of Internet access. This will invariably mean to allow a free hand to TSPs to innovate in distribution and pricing. This would include differential pricing - especially the practice of “Zero Rating” and other such innovations. I hope the TRAI considers my answers. Thanking you My answers: Question 1: Should the TSPs be allowed to have differential pricing for data usage for accessing diffe

If purists are so offended by a limited offering, just don’t call ‘Free Basics’ the Internet   A lot has been said about Free Basics, the free limited internet program by Facebook and its telecom partners. Mostly by people opposing it. Facebook is spending (reportedly) Rs 100 crore and using its own properties to make it a success. It is ironical that people who claim to be avowedly pro-market are the loudest opponents of Free Basics. So much so, there is hardly a major voice that stands for it. Supporting it, is almost like supporting bigotry, and invites accusations of shilling for Facebook.  In the spirit of Laissez-faire, it is my contention that Free Basics should continue. Whether it succeeds or fails is something that the market should decide. Let us analyse the main arguments that we have heard against Free Basics and why we should have a different view on them. Who pays for it? Since FB doesn’t pay Telcos for bandwidth. Telcos make too much money from us and are g