DoT, Trai find no violation of net neutrality in network slicing

New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and telecom regulator are of the view that network slicing, a key feature of 5G technology, will not violate principles of net neutrality, said senior officials, adding that appropriate changes will be made in licensing rules to allow slicing.

Top telcos Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel had sought clarity on this aspect, which is critical for offering private captive network services to enterprises and for garnering future 5G revenue. DoT, which has held preliminary discussions internally and with the industry, feels operators are not going to throttle speeds for consumers when they slice the network. Giving equal access to all without throttling of speed is the main parameter of net neutrality rules.