The Telecom Commission on Wednesday approved net neutrality rules, which bar service providers from discriminating against internet content and services by blocking, throttling or granting them higher speed access.

But what is "net neutrality" and how does that affects you? Here's what you need to know in plain English.

What is net neutrality?

Equal internet access for all. It's as simple as that.

It prevents service providers (say Airtel, Jio or Idea) from dictating the kinds of content you're able to access online. Instead, internet providers have to treat all traffic sources equally.

What is exempted ?

Critical services and Internet of Things (IoT) services will be exempted. It sounds very vague but the government is yet to prepare a complete list of what services will be exempted.

A separate committee has been set up under the Department of Telecom (DoT) to examine what these critical services will be. These may include autonomous vehicles, digital healthcare services or disaster management.

What are critical services ?

Critical services, also referred to as mission-critical computing services, include systems or network devices whose loss would cause business operations to fail. These services are absolutely indispensable and its important to grant priority over best effort.

Examples include autonomous vehicles or a remote diagnostic surgery, where a millisecond of connectivity drop or delay could be fatal.

How will "net neutrality" impact Indian telecom companies?

Market experts do not expect any impact on such companies as they already adhere to net neutrality rules.

What about content developers (or CDN – content development network) ?

Telecom companies can offer favorable terms only if the content is exclusive to their network (like Jio music).

Lets take an example: Reliance's Jio bought music and audio streaming service Saavn. Now if Saavn is available on all networks, then Jio cannot provide it cheaper or faster. However Jio can leverage CDN exemption and offer platform content at lower prices to drive traction.

Is this negative for independent content developers?

In a way it is. Now Netflix can no longer tie-up with telcom companies to offer premium services. This also means that your internet provider cannot charge you extra for say watching videos on Netflix at a high-speed.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd, the promoter of Reliance Jio, also controls Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com.

First Published:Jul 12, 2018 11:19 AM IST