Facebook Responds to Trai's Letter, Says It's Being Singled Out

Social networking site Facebook on Wednesday responded to the Indian telecom regulator Trai's letter regarding Free Basics, saying it tried to cooperate with the watchdog, adding it believes it's being singled out for not answering specific questions.

"Facebook's mission is to make the world more open and connected and in this regard we are fully aligned with what we believe is Trai's objective this consultation paper (on differential pricing for data services)," Ankhi Das, Facebook's director for public policy for India, South and Central Asia, said in the letter.

"When we reviewed your letter of January 7, 2016, we were alarmed by the discrepancy in the number of comments submitted. We promptly sought to understand the source of discrepancy," the letter added.

"We would note that we are not aware of a similar request (from Trai) having been made to any other commentator who did not answer these specific questions," it said in the reply, referring to Trai's letter that noted the responses sent by Facebook are not relevant to the questions being raised. "Your urging has the flavour of reducing this meaningful consultative exercise designed to produce informed decisions in a transparent manner into a crudely majoritarian and orchestrated opinion poll," Trai said to Facebook in the letter.

(Also see:  Trai Says Facebook's Actions Could Have 'Dangerous Ramifications)

Facebook has responded by saying "..we continue to believe that the original comments submitted were responsive to the general questions raised in the consultation paper, which clearly covers such topics as the Free Basics programme," Facebook Public Policy Director for India, South and Central Asia Ankhi Das said.

Facebook's Free Basics service is old hold in India pending a decision on differential pricing. Trai is holding an open house in Delhi on the subject on Thursday.

Written with agency inputs