Net neutrality

Concerned residents have called on the Governing Board, International Advisory Council and Secretary of the Auroville Foundation to instruct Aurinoco, the Auroville unit which created a fibre optic network in Auroville with GOI grants, to halt forcing a single connectivity upon all subscribers. The signatories request that Aurinoco restore net neutrality, process new BSNL applications, include resident representation in management decisions, and follow transparent tender processes. On 3 May Aurinoco had announced it would discontinue providing BSNL services over the Aurinoco fibre. This was followed by a drastic reduction of speeds from the expected 100-300MB/s to around 1-2MB/s for users on BSNL connections. A few days later, Aurinoco started disconnecting BSNL users. At the time, there were over 200 BSNL users on Aurinoco. The residents highlighted that large portions of the network were paid for by substantial individual funds throughout Auroville. These investments were made on the premise and promise of Net Neutrality and free choice of Internet Service Provider (ISP) by each individual resident. The residents also challenged Aurinoco’s claim that discontinuing BSNL was part of the Auroville Master Plan. When this issue went to press, the issue had not been resolved.