NEW DELHI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI ) has asked Reliance Communications to stop the Free Basics service of Facebook, at least for some time. “We have asked them (Reliance Communications) to stop it and they have given us a compliance report that it has been stopped,” a senior government official told TOI.Reliance Communications is Facebook’s sole telecom partner in India to offer a set of basic internet services free to its subscribers. The service is called Free Basics. Earlier known as internet.org, Free Basics has been criticised by several experts as being against the spirit of net neutrality.TRAI is yet to form a view whether Free Basics conforms to net neutrality. “The question has arisen whether a telecom operator should be allowed to have differential pricing for different kinds of content. Unless that question is answered, it will not be appropriate for us to continue to make that happen,” the source said, in reference to the Facebook-Reliance ‘Free Basics’ platform.Net neutrality means Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favouring or blocking particular products or websites.When contacted, a spokesperson for the mobile operator refused to comment or answer a questionnaire on the subject. A questionnaire to Facebook on the issue also remained unanswered until late night.However, Reliance Communications is still to pull the Free Basics platform off its services. The Free Basics platform is available to subscribers of the telecom company when they log into the website, leaving a question mark over the compliance to the regulator’s order.Sources said that Reliance had received a communication from TRAI around two weeks back over the issue.Facebook has also been campaigning for the Free Basics platform very aggressively, especially as TRAI has sought comments for working out recommendations on the differential pricing option. However, there is a stiff resistance building up against its campaigns as activists urge subscribers to oppose the measure while giving comments on Trai’s consultation paper.The Free Basics platform, which has been in place since the middle of 2014, had been initiated by Facebook ostensibly as a philanthropic activity as the social media giant wanted to provide free basic internet connectivity to the unconnected across Asian, African and Latin American regions. The company has partnered more than a dozen mobile operators across 19 countries to provide the free internet platform.However, it has been criticized severely over the measure as net neutrality activists from various parts of the world said that the platform is “threatening freedom of expression” and presented a “walled garden” for first-time users. They also argue that the platform will stifle the start-up culture and curb innovation.Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has time and again defended the platform, saying that it aims to connect those who have not been able to get access to the internet. But faced with a barrage of criticism, the company in September this year decided to re-christen internet.org as Free Basics while allowing any application or developer on the platform, provided it “meets basic technical requirement”. This clause has also been criticized by activists who opposed the “conditional entry” into Facebook platform against the “culture of freedom” on the wider internet.The platform has been criticised by activists in India as well, including savetheinternet.in, with many writing to Zuckerberg as well as TRAI against its continuity in the present form.A high-powered committee of the telecom ministry had objected to platforms such as internet.org in a report submitted in July this year. “… content and application providers cannot be permitted to act as gatekeepers and use network operations to extract value, even if it is for an ostensible public purpose. Collaborations between telecom service providers and content providers that enable such gatekeeping role to be played by any entity should be actively discouraged.”Apart from the telecom regulator, a parliamentary committee is also finalizing recommendations on net neutrality, which should also address the issues around zero-rated platforms such as Free Basics.