Mozilla Tells India Zero Rating Also Poses Potential Harms
Mozilla counseled officials in India about the dangers inherent in zero rating, in response to a consultation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Internet services, said a blog post Tuesday by Denelle Dixon-Thayer, senior vice president-business and legal…
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affairs. Zero rating offers limited Internet access at lower rates and was one of the most sensitive issues before the FCC as it finalized net neutrality rules in February (see 1502250064). “The impact of zero-rating may result in the same harms as throttling, blocking, or paid prioritization,” Dixon-Thayer wrote. “By giving one company (or a handful) the ability to reach users at no cost to them, zero-rating could limit rather than expand a user’s access to the Internet and ultimately chill competition and innovation. The promise of the Internet as a driver of innovation is that anyone can make anything and share it with anyone. Without a level playing field, the world won’t benefit from the next Facebook, Google or Twitter.” The Mozilla official conceded there are many unknowns about zero rating. “There may be markets where affordability hurdles to access remain so significant that mobile networks can’t reach economies of scale to keep prices down,” she said. “It may be possible that access to zero-rated services will help to give previously unconnected users a ‘taste’ of the Internet leading them to demand access to the open Internet itself. The truth is we don’t know.”