[csgrad12]

Free Basics, if legalized, sets a precedent for ISPs to offer zero-rated plans which affects everyone. You don't want a huge market with more than half a billion users (by 2020) where zero-rated plans are commonplace. Everyone loses out in such a situation except the ISPs. Netflix was just launched in India, and Reliance (the carrier that supports Free Basics) has a similar offering called Bigflix, which they can zero-rate to eliminate Netflix. Airtel, another huge operator can zero-rate their messaging application Hike to eliminate WhatsApp/Snapchat. Their music offering can eliminate Spotify (if they do come to India) or any other music streaming startup. Flipkart, an e-commerce player can eliminate every other niche e-commerce startups in India by zero-rating their services, which they tried last year.

Sadly, all the campaigns are focused on Facebook/Zuckerberg and people calling for a ban on Free Basics when they should actually be campaigning against zero-rating.

Free Basics might be a great gateway drug to the internet, but what good is it if the internet as we know today will not exist when the poor decide to get a "complete" internet connection?