Free Basics debate: For Improved Governance, any Internet better than no Internet

The internet is agog with an intense debate on Facebook's 'Free Basics' Initiative. The opponents have raised a variety of legitimate questions to Facebook that Facebook must clarify to the concerned public. My perspective is going to be a little different.

My own analysis of CSDS data of the 2009 Lok Sabha election shows that about 7 million accessed the internet for election related news in India. This was from a base of 71 million internet users. There were about 250-300 m unique mobile users at that time. In 2014 (a revolutionary election), by my estimate there were about 70 million users (10 fold increase) access the internet for election related news in India. This was from a base of about 200 million plus internet users . There were 453 million mobile users at the same time. This means that 250m + users had a mobile phone but no internet access in 2014.

A survey early this year shows that Facebook was the top source of news for millennials in the United States. My own private surveys confirm the same fact for India as well. Social media is increasingly playing a crucial role in disseminating information and structuring meaningful (and meaningless) debates around Politics. Irrespective of what Chandan Mitra says, social media will increasingly play a bigger role in Politics and Governance, not a lesser role. And, every single politician I meet talks about a digital strategy as they recognise that this is extremely crucial for them. Governments across the country tie up with private sector partners to track public opinion and respond to them quickly. 

In this context, providing internet access to the many million is extremely important in India. An aware public will be a very demanding public and a very demanding public will hopefully lead to better governance in the country. In that context, free internet is a huge benefit for the many mobile users who have no access to the internet at all (the 250 million I mentioned earlier). I reckon that as users become more affluent, it is unlikely that they would stick to Free Basics and instead upgrade to services that provide a wider access to the internet. In the event that Free Basics actually leads to damaging the internet, the Govt could always intervene to shut down these initiatives. The other point to be made is that Operators have been offering exclusive services (like Facebook only or Whatsapp only) for extremely low fees to enable the poorest to access the internet. I don't think any of these initiatives have damaged the internet. If at all, the number of digital news properties on the internet has gone up, not come down over the last couple of years.

The 2014 Lok Sabha election was a revolutionary election mostly because of the revolution in mass and digital media enabled by increased access to devices (TV, Mobile) and the internet. While there are many merits in the arguments by those opposing Facebook's Free Basics and that the Govt could intervene through some checks and balances, I am certainly excited by the idea that 200 million more could join the internet quickly before the next election in 2019. More people on the internet would mean more Indians increasingly becoming aware of the rights and demanding better services from their elected representatives. This can only be good for India in the long run.