Facebook shuts down Free Basics in India
Critics of Facebook's Free Basics say the programme violated the principle of Net neutrality
New Delhi: Social networking giant Facebook Inc. on Thursday pulled the plug on its controversy-ridden Free Basics programme in India, days after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) barred operators from charging discriminatory rates for Internet access based on content.
“Free Basics is no longer available to people in India," a Facebook spokesperson said.
The service was offered in India in partnership with Reliance Communications Ltd (R-Com) and was earlier known as Internet.org.
While there was no reply from R-Com to repeated queries in this regard, people familiar with the matter said it takes up to 48 hours to stop such a service as several websites were involved as partners.
Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has also slammed Free Basics saying such differential pricing modes are “plainly not acceptable" and Internet should not become a monopoly of few.
After months-long consultation process, triggered by the Net neutrality debate, Trai earlier this week barred operators from charging different rates for data access, dealing a blow to Free Basics and other similar plans such as Airtel Zero.
While Facebook had promoted Free Basics as a programme aimed at providing basic Internet access to people in partnership with telecom operators, critics slammed the service saying it violated the principle of Net neutrality.
Launched in 2014, Facebook is running the programme across 17 countries. The closure of Free Basics in India was announced on a day when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg distanced himself from controversial comments about the country made by the social media giant’s board member Marc Andreessen, saying they were “deeply upsetting" and did not represent the company’s thinking. PTI
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