MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its recommendations on net neutrality. These recommendations are the result of a long, multistage consultation process.

On 27 March,2015, TRAI had issued a consultation paper titled ‘Regulatory Framework for Over-The-Top Service.’ Apart from issues relating to Over-The-Top (OTT) service, this consultation paper also touched upon issues related to net neutrality.

TRAI first decided to deal with the issue of differential pricing of data access. Accordingly, after following a public consultation process, TRAI issued the "Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016" on 8 Feb,2016. Subsequently, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) vide letter dated 3 March, 2016 sought TRAI's recommendations on net neutrality including traffic management and economic, security and privacy aspects of OTT services, apa1i from other relevant standpoints as covered in the consu ltation paper dated

27 March, 2015. TRAI considered the matter and decided to deal with the issue of Net Neutrality first. The recommendations released by TRAI today are an outcome of this decision.