A Network Neutral Alternative to Free Basics

The evolution of mobile communication systems and the availability of affordable smart-phones and advanced applications have led to a rapid increase in the number of connected devices and cellular subscriptions. Although the number of connected mobile devices exceeded the total population of the world in 2014, two-thirds of the world’s population still has no access to the Internet. Internet.org, also known as Free Basics, is a Facebook led initiative aimed at providing Internet access to the two-third of the world’s population who do not have it. Through partnerships with mobile operators in different parts of the world, it aims at providing the benefits of connectivity to the poor population who cannot afford a mobile data plan. However, it has a number of associated issues that can lead to the violation of Network Neutrality principles. In addition, network operators have to rely on the design principles of Free Basics applications to ensure minimum network usage so that paid customers do not suffer significant performance degradation. Due to these drawbacks, there is a need for a network neutral solution that benefits both the operators and the end users, without any third party intervention. In this paper we propose a controlled Low Throughput approach, which we henceforth call LTP, for providing free Internet access to those who need it while providing performance guarantees to users of paid subscriptions. In particular, the proposed approach is also Network Neutral.