Trump Team's Layton Offers Mixed View of India's Free Data, Aggregator Approach
Roslyn Layton credited India with recognizing the value of free data but cited problems with its "aggregator" approach. Reversing a previous ban on differential pricing for data services, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) now acknowledges free data can…
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help the poor, said a Tuesday blog post by Layton, an American Enterprise Institute scholar and Trump FCC landing team member (see 1611290022). The "TRAI rejected three proposed models for free data and presents a new model in which 'third party aggregators' create the market for free data," she wrote. "Let’s applaud TRAI for recognizing the value of free data. Aggregation is a novel approach, but it is neither costless nor neutral. Moreover, the ruling creates a new problem of regulatory discrimination restricting how telecom service providers can participate in the market." Layton suggested the better way to discover the best free-data approach "would be to conduct a randomized control trial without regulatory discrimination." Indian telecom carriers could still challenge the TRAI's decision in court, she said, but for now the aggregator-based policy sets up a "de facto randomized control trial" as other south Asian nations have implemented various free-data programs that have increased broadband adoption. "It’s hard to see why some 446 million people in rural parts of India could not benefit from such programs, in addition to at least 80 million urban poor in the country," she wrote.