Airtel Zero Platform Makes App Developers Pay For Your Data Charges
India's leading telecom company Bharti Airtel Limited is here with an interesting platform named 'Airtel Zero' that can lets mobile app users access apps for free, without paying the data charges. Wondering how that might be? Well, Airtel Zero is an open platform developed for marketers as well as customers in such a way that both land in a win-win situation. By letting access to apps at Zero data charges, mobile users can access the apps requiring data connectivity even when their SIM card's account balance is zero. Whereas, app developers and marketing personnel can enjoy the facility to reach out to more and more app users. Bharti Airtel is quite excited about the launch of Airtel Zero platform and have gone on to declare that their new service is in line with the government's Digital India program for connecting all India to internet-based services as well as the very-popular Make in India initiative.
By now, you might be wondering about the 'catch' in the whole service. Who is paying for the data charges? Well, Airtel Zero's model works this way. Both users as well as mobile app developer register on the platform. The app developers inform Airtel Zero about the apps they've created and request to get a toll-free access, by themselves paying for the data charges incurred on using it. Airtel informs its registered users about the available toll-free apps and these users can download and access them for free. So, the whole platform works the same way toll-free voice calling works.
The folks behind the project believe that Airtel Zero is an effective marketing tool for app developing companies because they get an opportunity to reach out to more and more customers in India and users don't hesitate in trying new applications. The company wants small companies or startups to use the Airtel Zero platform to market their apps. In the official press release, they share that the small developers who can't invest much on promotions and bringing about app downloads owing to budget limitations can see a significant increase in their reach. The company seems to be already generating interest and taking many business and partners on board and wants people to register their interest for ‘Airtel Zero’ by writing to them at #-Link-Snipped-# for details.
Well, many of the blogs and websites have pointed out that this platform violates the basic principle of 'Net Neutrality.' The term coined by Prof. Tim Wu of the Columbia University, states that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally. This means that companies should not be charging different prices depending on the user, site, applications, equipment, content or even the communication channel. With this platform, Bharti Airtel Limited will be offering the app developers registered with them an advantage over others by zeroing the fees required to access the apps.
Though as of now, Airtel hasn't disclosed the names of the companies registered with Airtel Zero, reports suggest that e-commerce portal Flipkart has signed up already is paying the telecom operator Rs 1000/gb data transfer as part of the deal.
We would like to know if the arrival of Airtel Zero platform makes you happy or upset as a consumer? Share your thoughts with us in comments below.
By now, you might be wondering about the 'catch' in the whole service. Who is paying for the data charges? Well, Airtel Zero's model works this way. Both users as well as mobile app developer register on the platform. The app developers inform Airtel Zero about the apps they've created and request to get a toll-free access, by themselves paying for the data charges incurred on using it. Airtel informs its registered users about the available toll-free apps and these users can download and access them for free. So, the whole platform works the same way toll-free voice calling works.
The folks behind the project believe that Airtel Zero is an effective marketing tool for app developing companies because they get an opportunity to reach out to more and more customers in India and users don't hesitate in trying new applications. The company wants small companies or startups to use the Airtel Zero platform to market their apps. In the official press release, they share that the small developers who can't invest much on promotions and bringing about app downloads owing to budget limitations can see a significant increase in their reach. The company seems to be already generating interest and taking many business and partners on board and wants people to register their interest for ‘Airtel Zero’ by writing to them at #-Link-Snipped-# for details.
Well, many of the blogs and websites have pointed out that this platform violates the basic principle of 'Net Neutrality.' The term coined by Prof. Tim Wu of the Columbia University, states that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally. This means that companies should not be charging different prices depending on the user, site, applications, equipment, content or even the communication channel. With this platform, Bharti Airtel Limited will be offering the app developers registered with them an advantage over others by zeroing the fees required to access the apps.
Though as of now, Airtel hasn't disclosed the names of the companies registered with Airtel Zero, reports suggest that e-commerce portal Flipkart has signed up already is paying the telecom operator Rs 1000/gb data transfer as part of the deal.
We would like to know if the arrival of Airtel Zero platform makes you happy or upset as a consumer? Share your thoughts with us in comments below.
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