MUMBAI : Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) on Thursday signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" (MoU) on net nuetrality. The MoU, signed by TRAI chairman Ram Sewak Sharma and BEREC chair Johannes Gungl, also adopted a "Joint Statement for an Open Internet", pledging to work together to ensure that the internet remains an open and non-discriminatory platform.
"Net neutrality is a vital principle and an open internet crucial for people around the globe. We are very happy to have TRAI as a partner to ensure a univocal protection of net neutrality principles for internet access services," said Gungl.
Last year, TRAI, post a consultation process, issued recommendations to protect net neutrality. However, those recommendations haven’t yet been enacted by the telecom department.
The joint statement not only highlighted the regulators’ common understanding of net neutrality rules but also their intention to protect them. TRAI and BEREC have also decided to work together in implementing these rules.
The MoU has been designed to faciliatate effective electronic communications regulation. Its aim is to build a mutual relationship between the two parties to identify and tackle current and future regulatory issues. This effort is also aimed at nurturing a sound working partnership between the experts from both regulators.
“We consider that the intemet will continue to be an enabler of growth and innovation for countries like India who can use technology to leapfrog to the next stage of development. Therefore, it is important that the intemet is kept as an open and non-discriminatory platform. Our MoU with BEREC gives us an opportunity to not only work closely together in areas like net neutrality, but also to collaborate in other areas where the EU has adopted a very effective regulatory framework like consumer protection, broadband development and promotion of Next Generation Access roll-out " said Sharma.
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