'WOW! TRAI did it!' - Free

Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma on the Free Basics decision: I yelled, 'WOW! TRAI did it!'

When Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma heard about the

TRAI

(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) ban on Facebook's Free Basics initiative last week, his reaction was a two-fold one. The first was disbelief. In an exclusive interview with ETPanache Sharma says, "I was like, Wow! It really happened. It was a surreal and a small reaction." Minutes later, the impact of the ruling sunk in. Sharma, who was in his office in Noida, yelled in joy, "Wow! TRAI did it!" His shouts were heard by his co-workers on the floor.

Sharma was one of the leading voices from the e-commerce industry who spoke up for net neutrality during the debate surrounding Free Basics. As arguments went back and forth, Sharma had braced himself for bad news. "In life, I have believed that success won't come easy. There will be a hard struggle ahead. So, whenever results are expected, I think it won't be good," he says.
Zuckerberg dials Sharma

Sharma's strong opposition to Free Basics prompted Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg to call him. The phone call, which lasted for nearly 45 minutes, was his attempt to convince Sharma of his intention behind Free Basics.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Image: Ashwani Nagpal)
Why did Zuckerberg call Sharma in particular? The Paytm CEO says it might have had something to do with an emphatic tweet he sent out on the subject. "Oh my fellow Indians, either choose this & do a jihaad for independent Internet later or pick #NetNeutrality today," his message said.

Sharma reveals that the tweet set off a discussion. "It generated a lot of reaction. I just want to know why on earth are you so angry about this? I replied, I don't think anybody is against you, my friend. You want equal, unbiased internet like what every other company wants. His question wasn't irrational. His point of view was that Facebook wants to connect people. I said, That's incredible and I am sure you will do something good for this country," Sharma reveals.

Zuckerberg also told Sharma that there was a need to rally against people getting blocked or anybody getting preferential treatment over others. Sharma says, "I believe Zuckerberg and Facebook are in favour of net neutrality. What I doubted was the implementation of Free Basics. It would have ended up giving telcos a way around blocking and doing many things, which was not necessarily correct. Somehow this discussion went somewhere else, but the true discussion was about telcos."

A helpful debate
Considering the lobbying clout of telecom majors, TRAI's decision is truly a landmark one and India has become one of the first countries to strike down Free Basics and uphold net neutrality.
Sharma believes that TRAI has some "solid guys", who probably needed the vociferous debate around the issue. "Indian systems are interesting. For instance, you instantly recognise what's good about US but it takes you five years to figure out what is wrong with it. With India, you instantly recognise what's wrong with it but it takes five years to recognise what's good about it. Our economy is a great example. The world goes through its moments but the Indian economy doesn't crash like a lot of others do," he says.

Fight the good fight
Sharma cautions against premature celebrations though. Differential pricing for content-based services is just one issue the regulatory body has got right. He says, "Speed throttle, giving access, all sorts of things are also other points. One thing that's proven is that in this country, you don't need to give in to strong lobbying. You can fight for what's correct. Social media is so powerful. You can get tremendous support. When new things will come, challenges will come and moving opinion will come."

He also showers praise on the unsung heroes of the fight — India's net neutrality activists. Describing them as "a bunch of known unknowns", Sharma says, "None of them have a personal stake in this issue, yet one saw a significantly-biased, powerful organisation facing unbiased, non-commercial, indirect beneficiaries fighting for the benefit of a larger cause and 'winning'.".