violating net neutrality – Bharti Airtel has defended its new “Priority Postpaid” service before a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) panel, saying the offering, powered by 5G network slicing, neither violates net neutrality norms nor reduces the quality of service for prepaid users, sources said. According to the presentation made by Airtel in response to clarifications sought by the Committee on Communications and Information Technology, the company said that not allowing the use of mainstream 5G features for offering services will jeopardize the 6G capacity in the country.

“Priority Postpaid is implemented in a content-neutral manner and is fully consistent with the existing TRAI and DOT framework. There is no blocking, throttling, content-specific prioritization, zero-rating or preferential treatment to any application,” Airtel said in the submission.

Airtel had launched the “Priority Postpaid” plan on May 19, which promises consistent speeds for postpaid customers even in crowded markets. “The Airtel Priority feature does not impair the quality of service for any customer, whether prepaid or postpaid,” the company said in the submission, according to sources. A query sent to Bharti Airtel did not elicit any response.

The company said that currently, the total 5G capacity utilization during peak hours is about 38%. Within this, postpaid traffic is only about 4%, which could increase to about 6% after the introduction of virtual “tunnels” (slices) for Priority Postpaid, the company said. It said additional headroom remains in prepaid and other non-priority traffic to the tune of about 60% of total capacity, making it clear that priority postpaid does not and cannot cause degradation for prepaid users.