According to a survey conducted in New Delhi by LocalCircles, a citizen engagement platform, in a survey of 30,000 people, 81 percent voted against Free Basics or any such programme and preferred an unbiased or neutral internet for themselves.
LocalCircles, on Thursday, said in a statement that when asked if the central or state government should provide free internet access covering essential or useful citizen services, 78 percent of the respondents answered in the affirmative.
Facebook, too, had recently posted results from a survey that said 4 out of 5 Indians support Free Basics in India. The sample size of the survey was just 3,094 people which doesn’t reflect the Indian Internet user base of over 375 million.
Facebook’s survey also says that 86% of respondents supported Free Basics when presented with arguments for and against the service. Additionally, more than 80% of respondents support the idea of “free access to a set of useful websites on the Internet”.
Statement from LocalCirclesThis basically redefines the concept of net neutrality and has implications on what is provided as content when the internet is free and provided by the government. Internet evangelists who have stakes in the internet being open to all, meaning that all websites and apps should be given equal access will be disappointed by what the citizens want.
K Yatish Rajawat, Chief Strategy Officer of LocalCirclesIf the government wants to make electronic books available for free, it can make sure that they are at least available on all government hotspots. This would not be possible if free internet is understood only through what private internet companies are offering. The debate on net neutrality has to take into account that access to internet is important and its misuse is also a possibility.
Industrialist Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCOM), on December 23, said following the Indian telecom regulator’s directive, the commercial launch of Facebook’s Free Basics has been put on hold till it gets clearance.
RCOM is the only telecom service provider offering Free Basics in India.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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