While America is still struggling to retain Net Neutrality, India has taken a step forward to ensure that the internet continues to remain discrimination-free. The new changes in the policy mean that telecom operators will not be able to block, throttle, or zero-rate internet data. 

The move comes after TRAI's (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommendation stating that internet service providers cannot engage in “any form of discrimination or interference” in data connections. 

The Department of Telecommunication has adopted the new policy and an amendment will be made to the licence agreement, that all ISPs are required to sign. 

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It is a basic principle that ensures the internet service providers treat all the data passing through its network, equally. Meaning, if you have "Plan A" and another user has "Plan B", the two can have a varying bandwidth and transfer speeds. The ISP cannot charge users of Plan A to access a certain website separately, while Plan B gets free access or even throttle data speeds accordingly. 

Net Neutrality ensures that websites, platforms or users are not discriminated. This way, everything on the internet gets equal priority and one entity cannot have any undue advantage. 

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A few years ago, Facebook had released its "Free Basics" platform which gave users free access to their partners. Here, one of the partners meant Facebook, hence, users were not liable to pay any data charges when accessing Facebook, but had to pay when using another non-partner website like Twitter. 

Experts have often stressed that if Net Neutrality is not enforced, bigger established companies can tie-up with telcos and create a vacuum. If you are able to stream Service A for free without any data charges, will you access Service B that does not have a partnership with the telco? Also, imagine having to buy packages to access WhatsApp, and then separately paying more for Viber or Telegram. 

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There are few exceptions though, services like autonomous driving, telemedicine or remote diagnostic services may get prioritised internet fast lanes, as they are categorised as "critical services". This is similar to Ambulances getting priority and a little free hand on the road during emergencies. 

Industry analysts say, that the new changes in the policy will help maintain a fair playing ground for startups. At the end of the day, this is a big win for everyone who uses the internet, right from companies to the end user.