In its submission, Jio said slicing-based services comply with Unified Licence conditions and TRAI regulations, and that different network slices for various user segments or industry verticals remain consistent with net neutrality principles.
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India’s number two telecom operator, Airtel, has received support from the number one telecom operator, Reliance Jio, on 5G Slicing. The latter said such a mechanism will not affect net neutrality.According to a person aware of the matter, Jio has submitted its detailed response on 5G slicing and net neutrality to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communication and Information Technology. Jio’s submission, seen by bussinessline said: “Network slicing-based service deployments are a legitimate exercise of SG network capabilities, subject to compliance with the applicable provisions of the Unified Licence and TRAI regulations.”Further, it said that different slices for different business classes or verticals meet Net Neutrality requirements. However, differential charging based on preferential slicing within any class should be used only if it is justified by transparent, application-agnostic, technically sound traffic management requirements. “If required, the Department or any other competent government bodies may also seek specific implementation details and technical arrangements relating to network slicing-based service offerings, to assess conformance with net neutrality principles,” said Jio Communication dated May 25, without naming any other company.Jio’s response assumes significance in the context of the recent launch of Airtel Priority Postpaid, India’s first commercially announced 5G network-slicing-based consumer offering. This is the issue currently being deliberated by the Standing Committee. The Committee, headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, in its meeting on Tuesday, reviewed ‘Quality of Service (QoS) Standards and Consumer Protection in Telecom Sector,’ with a specific focus on net neutrality.The communication to the Committee from Jio said that Network slicing is a standardised, 3GPP-defined architectural capability of SG SA networks and constitutes a legitimate and important technological advancement that serves diverse public-interest connectivity requirements. “The extant regulatory framework, comprising the Unified Licence conditions and TRAl’s Net Neutrality regulations, expressly permits network slicing-based service offerings,” it emphasised.It also said that different slices for different business classes or verticals can have different access technologies, service contracts, SLAs, QoS classes, authentication models, CPEs, and enterprise private-network constructs. Further, operators will be required to maintain QOS standards on each slice and therefore there is no question of service deteriorating for some customers as a result of creation of these slices and thus meeting the Net Neutrality requirements However, “differential charging based preferential slicing within any class should be done only if it is framed or justified under transparent, application, agnostic, technically justified traffic management requirements,” it said.Published on May 28, 2026
