MOOT PROPOSITION INTRA MURALS 2015-16

1. Gurmeet Singh is considered as a pioneer among his colleagues in the Indian startup ecosystem.
His BackReel, a TV show and Movie streaming service has become billion dollar company in
just a few months time. While he faced criticism that he has just copied the UK based similar
successful company SideReel, his supporters argue that his ability to adapt the business model in
the Indian setup makes him worthy of all the accolades and the money flowing his way.
BackReel requires its users to pay Rs. 500 per month and in exchange you can watch any TV
show or a movie available on its website. BackReel has contracts with several content providers,
which means that an average person can fulfill his infotainment needs without a cable
connection. What distinguishes this service from Hulu and SideReel, is that it also offers live
streams to strings of popular news channels in India. Due to license restrictions, BackReel only
works in India, but because its content is consumed mainly on the Internet and apps available on
smartphones, it is available for users across the world, which is a major source of revenue for
BackReel.
2. Among the new generation streaming service providers, BackReel is the most popular one and
has become a growing concern for the traditional cable and DTH companies as they are rapidly
losing money due to the proliferation of such services. One such company RCoM in its Q1 2014
results show that income from the DTH undertaking fell almost by 35% QOQ as compared to
last year and its revenue as ISP provider has stagnated over the past three-quarters. These figures
were alarming because RCoM was by far the largest ISP and DTH providers of India which had
managed to capture 65% of the Indian market over the last 10 years of operations. Mr. Anil
Singhvi is the CEO of RCoM and was under the intense pressure of shareholders to stop these
losses.
3. Recently BackReel has made its first public issue, and its share prices have skyrocketed putting
the valuation of BackReel over a billion dollar which is still a fraction of the amount that RCoM
is valued at present. In July 2014, RCoM users began to notice the deterioration in the quality of
its streaming service of BackReel. By now seamless HD streaming had disappeared and instead
the service would start buffering every few minutes, making for a very bad user experience. This
would happen to users of RCoM who had special Reliance Speed 16 MBPS plans while the
BackReel worked well on other operators. Gurmeet Singh expressly accused RCoM in media of

deliberately interfering in the connection quality with hopes that users move back to DTH
network services. He called for immediate action against RCoM and hoped that regulators will
take strict measures.
4. RCoM-CEO, Anil Singhvi categorically denied the allegations that the company has actively
sabotaged the quality of connection and stated that its DTH service was very healthy and that he
considered that BackReel wasnt even a player in the big leagues. When he was asked about his
thought on BackReel blaming RCoM through a message which is displayed every time the
stream buffered, he said that it was a desperate attempt by an immature startup to stay relevant
and warned BackReels Gurmeet Singh that there will be consequences of such actions.
5. A week later RCoMs ISP Division announced an overhaul in the working of its Internet plans.
As compared to earlier system of charging a fixed sum of money for a guaranteed minimum
speed, RCoM now had tiered data plans that came with a fixed data allowance, beyond which the
speed would fall to 256 kbps. Anil Singhvi hailed this as a major innovation that could change
the market, as they made access to high Internet speed available to the masses at a price which
was well below what they were charged in a lump sum for unlimited plan. For example, a
package of 8 MBPS previously had cost Rs 3000 per month to users, while that customer could
now get 8 Mbps speed for only Rs. 999 with a 15 GB high-speed data cap still giving the facility
of unlimited plan. Customers wanting more faster speed could pay more for special packages.
Soon other service providers followed the same plan and this became the rule rather than an
exception. Industry observers considered them as a ploy to discourage users of large amounts of
streaming video and murmurs of anti-competitive practices started. Still no lawsuits have been
brought and RCoM started backdoor negotiations with ISPs rear to correct negotiations with
ISPs to resolve this barrier.
6. Despite these rapid changes, RCoM Q2 2014 results fared badly and the board of RCoM voted
for the removal of CEO. On August 12, 2014, Anil Singhvi convened a press conference and
many expected that he would announce his retirement from the company. Instead, he admitted
that RCoM was responsible for the deterioration in the quality of streaming service, experienced
by customers of BackReel and that Network optimizations which had been recently brought by
RCoM was the reason for the same. He stated that BackReels service amounted to 55 % of data
transmission on RCoMs network resulting into the tremendous strain on RCoMs network. Due

to this RCoMs other subscribers were getting deteriorated service which was not acceptable to
the company. He also asked BackReel to pay interconnection charges to RCoM for basing its
successful business at the cost of ISPs, which had actually invested their capital in laying down
data pipes across the globe. When extensively questioned by a journalist, an irritated Anil
Singhvi said that RCoM was free to do what it chooses and India had no net neutrality rules to
make it an offense.
7. Meanwhile the Telecom Regulator, based on multiple consultations with the industrial players
and the review received from the consumers came up with a circular authorizing Telecom
Operators to opt for Traffic Management techniques subject to compliance with transparency
requirements. The circular stated that8. Video streaming services impose load on the network in terms of traffic load, bandwidth
requirement and congestion. Telecom operators might adopt non-price based differential
treatment for the purpose of efficient traffic management and to ensure equitable access to the
consumers. The following methodologies might be adopted:
a)

Congestion control where a source of traffic slows down the network due to packet loss;

b)

Prioritisation of certain data: time-sensitive data like emergency services;

c)

Differential throttling for the content that is bandwidth hungry and non-time critical &

d)

Blocking, such as blocking of undesirable content like a virus, spam etc.

9. However, if aforesaid techniques are adopted by the Telecom Operators/ISPs then they are
mandatorily required to comply with Transparency Requirement wherein it is mandatory for
them to disclose peering and transiting arrangements and traffic management practices and such
other requirements as may be prescribed from time to time on the official website and shall be
subject to approval to the Telecom Regulator.

10. Considering these revelations and aggrieved by the circular, Mr. Singh filed a writ petition before
the Honble Supreme Court stating that RCoMs actions violated BackReels fundamental rights.
He also challenged the circular of being violative of free speech and net neutrality principles.
11. In reply, Mr. Singhvi in his written statement challenged the maintainability of writ petition
against a private entity like RCoM and stated that in an absence of any law on net neutrality, his
company has done no wrong. Telecom Regulator argued for the validity of the circular.
12. The matter is posted for final hearing before the Supreme Court of India.
13. This Moot Problem was drafted by Vaibhav Kumar, 5th Year, ILNU. The Moot Court Committee
is thankful for his efforts. The committee also recognizes the inputs given by Kaustubh Prakash
and Surbhi Pareek. Any attempt by participants to contact them with regard to the moot problem
will result in immediate disqualification from this Intra Mural Moot Court Competition.