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Telecom leaders call for net neutrality relook, flexibility in 5G slicing

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Telecom leaders call for net neutrality relook, flexibility in 5G slicing

Home / Technology / Tech News / Telecom leaders call for net neutrality relook, flexibility in 5G slicing

Airtel and Vodafone executives seek flexibility in network slicing to monetise 5G, while MediaNama's Nikhil Pahwa warns that differentiation could hinder innovation

Shubham Kumar New Delhi 4 min read Last Updated : Oct 07 2026 | 6:47 PM IST

Senior executives from top telecom operators called for a relook at the net neutrality framework and urged flexibility in network slicing to enable monetisation of existing 5G network capabilities, even as proponents of net neutrality argued against disrupting established principles.

Speaking during a panel discussion at the pre-event business day of the India Mobile Congress on Wednesday, Rahul Vatts, group chief regulatory officer at Airtel, said, “I think there is a real cause for us to sit down as stakeholders to understand, do we need to relook at principles? Do we need to have a larger debate in terms of larger principles of the regulatory landscape?... rather than to just carry in our head that there is a net neutrality principle. There are regimes where there is no net neutrality, are they any less in terms of anything? No. Have they not followed open internet?”

Notably, Airtel rolled out 5G slicing called Fastlane for its postpaid customers earlier this year, drawing concerns about net neutrality. Net neutrality principles were issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in July 2018, with subsequent amendments to the Unified Licence for telecom service providers (TSPs) and the internet service provider licence.


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