The Impact of Consolidation in the Internet Economy on the Evolution of the Internet
The Centre for Internet and Society in partnership with the Internet Society organized an event on the impact of consolidation in the Internet economy. It was divided into two roundtable discussions, the first one focusing on the policies and regulation while the latter dealt with the technical evolution of the Internet. This report contributed to the Internet Society’s 2019 Global Internet Report on Consolidation in the Internet Economy.
Edited by Swaraj Barooah, Elonnai Hickok and Vishnu Ramachandran. Inputs by Swagam Dasgupta
This report is a summary of the proceedings of the roundtables organized by the Centre for Internet and Society in partnership with the Internet Society on the impact of consolidation in the Internet economy. It was conducted under the Chatham House Rule, at The Energy and Resource Institute, Bangalore on the 29 June 2018 from 11AM to 4PM. This report was authored on 29 June 2018, and subsequently edited for readability on 25 June 2019. This report contributed to the Internet Society’s 2019 Global Internet Report on Consolidation in the Internet Economy.
The roundtables aimed to analyze how growing forces of consolidation, including concentration, vertical and horizontal integration, and barriers to market entry and competition would influence the Internet in the next 3 to 5 years.
To provide for sufficient investigation, the discussions were divided across two sessions. The focus of the first group was the impact of consolidation on applicable regulatory andpolicy norms including regulation of internet services, the potential to secure or undermine people’s ability to choose services, and the overall impact on the political economy. Thesecond discussion delved into the effect of consolidation on the technical evolution of the internet (in terms of standards, tools and software practices) and consumer choices (interms of standards of privacy, security, other human rights).
The sessions had participants from the private sector (2), research (4), government (1), technical community (3) and civil society organizations (6). Five women and eleven men constituted the participant list.
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