Govt in process to frame net neutrality rules, amend telecom licence, says Sinha

New Delhi: Government is in the process of framing rules to implement net neutrality in the country, which bars service providers from discriminating against internet content and services by blocking, throttling or granting them higher speed access.

"Government is in the process of establishing the regulatory framework for net neutrality which, inter alia, includes amendment in the terms of various licence agreements governing the provision of internet services in India to incorporate the principles of non-discriminatory treatment of content," Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Friday told Rajya Sabha in a written statement. The apex decision making body at the Department of Telecom, the Telecom Commission, had approved implementation of net neutrality as suggested by the sector regulator Trai with slight modification on July 11.

Some mission critical applications or services like remote surgery and autonomous cars will, however, be kept out of the purview of net neutrality framework.