The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) should adopt a ‘flexible approach’ to recognise traffic management and technology-centric innovations like network slicing on 5G, Reliance Jio says in its submission to the consultation on spectrum auction for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT). Network slicing is a technique that allows network operators to create multiple virtualised subnetworks (known as slices) for dedicated purposes.
The company emphasised that globally, the understanding of net neutrality is evolving with technology scenarios, adding that the US’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has repealed net neutrality rules based on market dynamics. Similarly, the UK’s communication regulator, OfCom, has “concluded that new dimensions to NN [net neutrality] can be added in the form of permitting premium quality retail offers”, most zero-rating offers, and traffic management.
These arguments are by no means new. Last year, in response to a consultation on the 5G ecosystem, Jio had argued for light-touch regulations for the 5G ecosystem and that TRAI should address “restrictive net neutrality and data charging rules,” citing OfCom’s review of the net neutrality rules.
Why is Jio arguing in favour of network slicing?
Reliance Jio has a standalone 5G network, which the company has been actively discussing since 2024. A standalone network is a new mobile network architecture that is not dependent on existing 4G infrastructure to facilitate communications. Having a standalone 5G network allows the company to provide network slicing services. In an earnings call earlier this year, the company emphasised that only Jio has been able to provide network slicing because of its standalone 5G network.
“We have dynamic slicing, so the route selection, the way it works, is fairly dynamic and we can do this on a real-time basis, based on where the traffic is coming from, based on user requirements,” the company’s Senior Vice President, Anshuman Thakur, had explained adding that the needs of someone performing critical work may differ from a home broadband connection. He also mentioned that Jio currently does not have differentiated pricing between users, but for specific use cases, but may eventually introduce such plans.
In the submission for the IMT spectrum auction, the company elaborates further on its network slicing efforts, stating that it is receiving proposals to launch tariff products based on network slicing technology under a 5G standalone network.
Does network slicing impact net neutrality?
Net neutrality is a principle that states that all sites on the internet must be equally accessible with no speeding up or slowing down of sites (known as throttling) based on whether or not the website owners are paying telecom companies. In 2024, net neutrality activists had expressed concern about a proposed revival of net neutrality norms in the US, which could allow the creation of 5G fast lanes due to a lack of clarity on what constituted throttling. Experts like Stanford Law Professor Barbara van Schewick mentioned that American telecom companies like T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon are all testing ways to create these 5G fast lanes for apps such as video conferencing, games, and video. While arguing against fast lanes, she had emphasised that not all network slices are harmful.
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“There are lots of ways for ISPs to use slices for things that are not normal internet service, such as a dedicated slice for a farming operation using remote-controlled tractors, slices for telemetry data and oversight of autonomous cars, or providing a slice for a stadium’s video system at a crowded game. There are good reasons to isolate this kind of traffic, and it can be done without reducing user choice or tilting the online playing field,” van Schewick explained in her 2024 blog post.
On the validity of the international examples Jio cites:
While the US FCC had formally rolled back net neutrality rules in 2018, it sought to revive them again in 2024. Soon after, American telecom companies took the rules to court for judicial review, saying that they would have to delay or scrap offerings, slow investment, and shoulder substantial new compliance and capital costs once net neutrality goes into effect. In January this year, a US Federal Appeals Court struck down the rules stating that broadband internet service is an information service instead of a telecom service. It questioned the FCC’s legal authority to impose net neutrality regulations on broadband internet services.
Unlike the US, in India, TRAI clearly regulates/ actively consults stakeholders on broadband-related issues. As such, the second repeal should not be considered support for a changing global stance on net neutrality. In the OfCom example, Jio appears to be citing the 2023 OfCom Net Neutrality Review, which the regulator has since looked into further in the 2024 annual net neutrality monitoring report. However, when looking at OfCom’s observations, it’s important to note that according to the regulator’s website, “By law [emphasis added], broadband providers must treat all internet traffic on their networks equally and not favour certain websites or services.” Further, in its 2023 review, OfCom clearly stated that it “cannot make changes” to the net neutrality rules, and any changes would be a decision for the UK government.
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