"Any stifling regulations restricting access to Internet or Internet platforms and services would not only seriously hamper this prospect of development, but also suppress growth and success of innovation-driven tech startups and SME companies," said Sanjeev Bhikchandani, chair of the Nasscom Internet Council. Nasscom said key guiding principles of net neutrality are about a user's right to make an informed choice in deciding access to legal content or services on the Internet.

This right is compromised when regulations fail to forbid price-based and non-pricebased discrimination by telecom service providers. "The other key priority is the proliferation of an affordable telecom infrastructure. These essential building blocks of the digital revolution are not contradictory and can and need to be synergised," added Chandrashekhar.

The Nasscom president stressed it was important to look at ways in which the telcos and OTT players can work together. "We must look at how to synergise these two so that data consumption goes up, telcos get their revenue from the data, and development of apps is continued by the entrepreneurial companies," he said.

The industry body also said it was important to dispel the myth that Internet platforms and services are unregulated. The IT Act and its rules regarding intermediaries and interception are applicable.

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