tech2 News Staff

After netizens forced the hand of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the net neutrality issue in 2015, another public petition is gaining traction rapidly on change.org.

The petition -- mounted by Amit Bhawani, a Hyderabad techie in "favour of any operator that offers affordable internet to customers" -- urges Trai to stay on the side of the paying customer. It comes in the wake of Trai shutting down Jio's Summer Surprise Offer. Jio's competitors complained to Trai that tariff wars were bleeding the industry leading to Trai's fiat to Jio to withdraw the offer.

At the time of writing the petition had garnered 73,095 votes.

Pointing out that internet tariffs have plummeted from about "Rs 250/GB to less than Rs 10/GB in just one year", the petitioner asks: "What led to this change? Were the companies working as a cartel and fooling the Indian consumer?"

"With data consumption on the rise (going up from 1GB/month to 30GB/month) India has become the largest consumer of mobile data in the world because data became affordable. But Trai that was once supported by the common man for its stand on Net Neutrality now stands against the availability of affordable internet access," says Bhawani.