[sdnog] Net Neutrality in Sudan

[Jan Zorz - ISOC]

On 07/12/2017 04:25, Samir Abdullatif wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> as you know, a big operator in Sudan recently announced free access
> through its network to Facebook
> 
> although that from the end-user perspective this might be a good thing
> for them, it' our job to spoil this for them 😊 and inform them why this
> might not be a good idea.
> 
> I'm not sure if we have explicit Net Neutrality laws in Sudan, but I
> think it's something worth discussing because although it might seem
> harmless, it can lead to more drastic steps in the future.

Hi,

When we had this discussion at a BEREC (Association of European
regulators) consultation meeting I pointed out that it should not be
allowed that operator can choose which service to prefer over another
and therefore choose the winner. If we go tis way then we prevent any
new startup company with great idea that is competing with Facebook to
enter the market as nobody would use anything else other than zero-rated
service anymore.

On the other hand I suggested a service (or application) that all mobile
operators should zero-rate - it's called "the Internet". If mobile
operators start zero-rating services and gaining competitive advantage
with more and more zero-rating, then at the end everything will be
zero-rated, so it's best to just zero-rate everything, stop sending
bills for mobile data and be done with it - it would save everybody lots
of time and effort ;)

What I usually say on zero-rating is shocking and mind boggling, but
imagine if we would start breaking net neutrality and do zero-rating in
1986, how do you think today Internet would look like today?

Everybody would be using just AOL and there would probably be nothing
else available. No Google, no Facebook, no Skype, no nothing - as AOL
would be able to pay for zero-rating and with this kill every other
innovation and idea for new service.

Is this the way we want to go? Probably not. Maybe your regulator should
be aware of the peril.

Cheers, Jan

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