Right across the busy junction on my regular commute to office, a big hoarding has come up in last few days. It is about Facebook's initiative - Free Basics. A huge media campaign is under way at the moment across all channels. It is supposedly a philanthropic effort to provide free internet to people who cannot afford it. Sounds like a great idea. However it has been surrounded with controversy and criticism since when it was launched. So what's the noise all about?
Here is a closer look.

What is Free Basics?

The erstwhile internet.org, now renamed to Free Basics, is Facebook and Reliance Communication's joint effort to provide free internet to everyone. An attempt to bring the entire country of a billion+ online. However the devil is in the details. There is a difference between Free Internet and Free Basics. It's not the entire internet that is free. Only a few "registered" services (aka websites) that are on-board are free. Facebook included. And of course provided those services are accessed through Reliance SIM Card.

It is interesting to see why Facebook and Reliance are so keen to push this through. After all, why would a company run a massive media campaign for a charity initiative? Well, the truth of the matter is, it is not really charity. Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook in every hand so that his advertisement revenue increases. As regards Reliance, Facebook's own survey based on data from other countries says that once people start using the "limited" free internet, more than 50% upgrade to a paid service.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong in this.

The issue is that of Net Neutrality.

Now what's Net Neutrality? 

Since the birth of the internet, the world has been working towards the principles of Net Neutrality. What this means is every content on the internet must be treated equally. Of course subject to age restrictions for certain sensitive content. The internet service itself must not provide preferential treatment to a sub-set of services available on the internet. The biggest exception to this of course is China and Middle East. However those parts of the world are known for restrictions, on every aspect of life - Internet included.

An open, free internet service is a must of fair competition and growth. A service like Free Basics is kind of biased towards certain set of services (web sites) which are on-board with it and hence carry tremendous advantage over those that aren't. Moreover, Facebook is a commercial organization. Activist doubt the real intent of Facebook behind the service.

Free Basics has been opposed by all activists and proponent of Net Neutrality. It is obviously strongly opposed by those services that are not being offered through Free Basics. Paytm founder famously compared Facebook's tactics with those of East India Company centuries ago. While that me a far stretched comparison, there is a merit in looking at it from Net Neutrality perspective.

In summary 

It is a service that has some great advantages which include internet access to people who cannot really afford it, although in a restrictive manner. Internet access to these hands can potentially open many more opportunities for them. The flip side is that it is strictly against the principles of Net Neutrality. It can potentially encourage monopoly.

TRAI right now seeking comments on Free Basics. The dead line has been extended until January 17, 2016. It is supposed to make its recommendation by end of Jan. It will be interesting to see the outcome, as it is likely to steer the evolution of the internet in India.