(L to R) Rajan S Mathews- Director General, COAI; Rajiv Bawa- CEO, Telenor; Sunil Sood- MD & CEO, Vodafone India Ltd.; Gopal Vittal- MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel Ltd.; Himanshu Kapania- MD, Idea Cellular Ltd; Arvind Bali- Director & CEO, Videocon Telecommunications Ltd.; Shankar Adawal- Regulatory Head, Reliance Jio; Ashok Sharma- National Head Regulatory, Aircel
COAI, the association of India’s top mobile service operators, telecom equipment manufacturers, infrastructure and content service providers, announced ‘Sabka Internet, Sabka Vikas’, an initiative to connect the 1 billion unconnected citizens of India.
Launching the online platform www.sabkainternet.in, COAI reiteratred that the Internet should be for all and not remain the preserve of a few. The Association invited all stakeholders to have a comprehensive and informed debate on the subject of Net Neutrality to develop a framework that caters to the infrastructure and diverse socio-economic needs of the country.
“The leadership team of the member companies of COAI i.e. Ashok Sharma of Aircel, Gopal Vittal of Airtel, Himanshu Kapania of Idea Cellular, Shanker Adawal of Reliance Jio, Rajiv Bawa of Telenor, Arvind Bali of Videocon, and Sunil Sood of Vodafone India, were present to reaffirm their commitment to ‘Sabka Internet, Sabka Vikas’ programme and promote Net Equality,” COAI said in a press release.
Elaborating its position on the ongoing public debate over net neutrality, and concerns over operators allegedly controlling consumers’ access to the Internet, the association stated, “We support an open Internet and believe that consumers should decide what to do online. Our job is to enable consumers to benefit from that freedom. “We offer choice and do not block or provide any preferential access to any web site or app.”
COAI also underlined its commitment to the Digital India programme and called for an open, inclusive and affordable access to the Internet for every Indian.
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