[sdnog] Net Neutrality in Sudan

[Samir Abdullatif]

@Patrick
An option Steve Song has been pushing is to encourage them that if they want to give something free then let them give a very low rate of bandwidth free when one’s data runs out. We’re talking GPRS/Edge speeds. Any website/service that can fit in that low bitrate is what works when someone has no data.

So far that’s been the best alternative I’ve seen.

I believe currently the Operator is only allowing free access to limited resources (No photos or videos).


@Philip
as you know, a big operator in Sudan recently announced free access through its network to Facebook

This is a terrible idea.  Facebook is not an essential service.  There is absolutely no reason to provide access to it for free.

agree, yet almost 80% of the Internet traffic in Sudan is for Social Media and specially Facebook so in a way it’s essential for the average user


although that from the end-user perspective this might be a good thing for them

No it's not.  Why is it a good thing to give an advertising company free access to people's personal information?

it' our job to spoil this for them 😊 and inform them why this might not be a good idea.

"Facebook is not free.  You pay for their advertising services with your personal data.  This is a lot more valuable than your money.  It's a lot easier to replace money you give to someone than it is to replace personal data you give to someone”.

agree also. However, it very difficult to convince the public of this, as long as they are not paying money they will see it as  good service. also due to sanctions you rarely ever saw ads in you social platforms when browsing from Sudan compared to other networks in other countries.



@Gael

For the strict supporters of net neutrality, there’s no debate and zero-rating is infringing the rules. For most regulators, zero-rating practices should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, particularly when they can have pro-competitive and pro-consumer benefits in their markets. In other words, no strict opposition if they can work on the public interest. However, there are also examples of governments strictly banning zero-rating programs such as India and Chile.

An approach to reduce incentives for content and operators to develop zero-rating programs in Sudan could be to facilitate the interconnection to happen at the exchange point, and for all networks in Sudan.

Could Facebook join the Sudan Internet exchange if they wanted to?

I don’t think they will be able to, I don’t think SIXP is a carrier-neutral IXP, but maybe if someone on this list who has better info can correct me

Regards
Samir
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sdnog.sd/pipermail/sdnog/attachments/20171207/9b4b2435/attachment.html>