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World Business Report: India's Flipkart pulls out of controversial Airtel deal

Picture: Flipkart is India's biggest online retailer. Picture credit: AFP

14/04/2015

India's Flipkart pulls out of controversial Airtel deal

BBC World Service - World Business Report, India's Flipkart pulls out of controversial Airtel deal

India's biggest online retailer withdraws from browsing deal in row over net neutrality.

India's biggest online retailer withdraws from a free browsing deal in a row over net neutrality and America's fishing industry is hit by the plummeting sardine population.

India's biggest online retailer has pulled out of a controversial deal after a social media backlash. Flipkart had agreed a deal with phone network Airtel to let customers browse its site for free, with Flipkart picking up their internet data costs. But critics said this went against net neutrality.

Net neutrality means service providers should treat all traffic equally. Users should be able to access all websites at the same speed and cost. 

The row comes as regulators in India are drawing up new rules surrounding net neutrality.

The sardine population off the west coast of the US has plummeted and the fishing season due to start on July 1st has already been cancelled. However, sardine numbers are so low that an emergency meeting has been called to decide whether boats should be tied up even earlier.

Plus, in Indonesia, home to the world's largest muslim population, there's a creeping crackdown on the sale of alcoholic drinks.  We ask what effect that might have on the country's tourism industry.

And the BBC's Ali Moore reports from Singapore, where the low oil price means many drilling programmes have been delayed or cancelled, resulting in huge and expensive oil rigs simply being left idle until demand picks up.  Picture: Flipkart is India's biggest online retailer. Picture credit: AFP

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