Friday, October 7, 2016
Facebook tries to bring internet access for free also in the Usa, but brings the problem of ‘zero-rating’ – Key4biz
to avoid similar obstacles and pave the road to his program, Zuckerberg has made some changes to Free Basics, allowing any non-profit organization to participate, provided they subscribe to some essential terms, including the prohibition of the use of high-definition images or videos that could consume a lot of data.
According to the Washington Post, Facebook would have been in negotiations for months with the american government and telecom operators to launch the service in the Usa. The latter are, in fact, an integral part of the project and for this reason, in the countries in which it has been launched so far, the app does not include services such as Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger that should be in open competition with those of the telco.
What will be the services that may be offered in the Usa this still don’t know. What is certain is that even overseas the hypothesis of the launch of the Free Basics did turn up their nose to the opponents of the so-called 'zero-rating', i.e. the so-called "discrimination positive", that is, when the traffic to certain sites or applications is not loaded in the bill.
According to those who believe that to exclude certain services from the calculation of the traffic data, it may favour some to the detriment of other, zero-rating should be regulated in the context of the rules on net neutrality, as happened in Europe where this practice is not prohibited, but its use shall be determined from time to time.
For many analysts Facebook – albeit with the noble goal of connecting the disconnected – threatens to uncover the Pandora’s box in the first place because, even if Free Basics would give the telco the ability to reach new potential customers, new rules on zero-rating may bump up costs legal and regulatory obligations on operators, not to mention the risk that the social network ends to usurp this valuable asset and that the relationship between an operator and its customers.
Not all, only see the smoke, though. For some, there is also the roast from the moment that mobile operators could turn if they are not all Free users Basics, maybe many in our customers payment: according to Facebook, in fact, about half of the people who have so far benefited from the program free then a subscription within the first 30 days.