Country's digital entrepreneurs and industry experts have urged telecom regulator to ‘ensure’ net neutrality for smoother growth and long-term sustainability of the country’s thriving e-commerce sector.
Allegations were also raised citing that the internet service providers (ISPs) at times prefer and promote their own packaged services and exclusive products on offer – apparently in stark contrast to the very concept of net neutrality.
The observations have been made at a city discussion held at the Bangabandhu International Convention Centre (BICC).
Net neutrality is a concept and commitment following which governments should mandate ISPs to treat all data and contents on the internet as the same and not discriminate or charge differently irrespective of users and beneficiaries.
Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) organised the roundtable titled “Net Neutrality – a basic for netizens in free society” on the sidelines of SoftExpo-2018 at the BICC in the capital city on Thursday.
North South University’s Prof M. Rokonuzzaman presented the keynote paper while BASIS President Syed Almas Kabir, former Presidents Habibullah N Karim and Fahim Mashroor, Director Mostafizur Rahaman Sohel, Digital Commerce’s standing committee chairperson Syeda Kamrun Ahmed and SSL Wireless Chief Operating Officer Ashish Chakraborty were among those addressed the function.
Unequal treatment and unethical practices by some ISPs, the trade body leaders alleged, often spoil the level-playing ground, create uneven competition and result in lopsided opportunity in the country’s fast-growing digital businesses at the cost of hundreds of micro entrepreneurs’ sufferings.
Discussants at the event also raised voice against indulging in different modes of business by the country’s mobile phone operators.
The operators are doing it bypassing voice and data service as majority of internet users (around 75 per cent) rely on the firms for their net service, they alleged.
The out-of-the-box practices by the telecos and other ISPs often result in a chaos as they come up with special offer against special package which is, as they think, a direct violation of net neutrality.
At the same time, they viewed, the new entrepreneurs can’t expand their business with innovations for lack of neutrality over the internet.
While former BASIS President Habibullah N Karim criticised the telecom operators for designing special internet packages for special services violating net neutrality, daily deal-making site bagdoom.com’s Chief Executive Officer Syeda Kamrun Ahmed expressed her concern over the telecos’ growing footsteps in the world of digital business.
She argued saying that telcos’ growing trend of engaging in ecommerce-like business gives a bad signal for the local digital micro-entrepreneurs who have been struggling already for several years only to help develop the sector.
BASIS President Syed Almas Kabir said his organisation will place a demand to the regulators and authorities concerned with a view to ensuring net neutrality for all.
He thinks that the telcos and tech giants can of course get involved with ecommerce and other digital businesses – but only through a completely different brand name and entity other than the mother company.
And they should not take or be given any undue privilege or uneven opportunity thereby violating the very spirit of net neutrality, he summarised.
