Maybe it won't be as bad as this
I'm giving you the worst case scenario. It might not be all that bad. All the telecom operators and ISP's in India could collaborate and create a free "India Internet", allows all apps and sites to make their product available to free across all telecom operators, maybe at a discounted rate. That still splits the Internet into two parts: free and paid. And there could be a single "Supply chain manager" (a role that exists in the mobile vas industry) which Internet companies, Indian or otherwise, have to negotiate with to make their app available, or negotiate with every year for the renewal as a vendor with telecom operators. Is that better? I don't know. Telecom operators could also charge on a pay per use basis for sites outside the free Internet, and not block access, keep in mind two things: Firstly, once that distinction is created in a users mind between paid and free — they will lean towards free. Secondly, Indian telecom operators have a history of manipulation of their platform. In Mobile VAS, there is a "Supply Chain Manager" who renegotiates deals, telling "Vendors" that they're making too much money, and more share needs to go the operator. Where have we heard that before? Well, in the TRAI paper, the telcos argue that Internet services are "free riding" on their networks, and that have very high valuations. That $19 billion WhatsApp deal, which valued the company higher than Airtel, probably really made them angry about this "free riding".
Technically, Airtel Zero isn't a marketing or promotional platform. It's platform that allows Internet companies to buy data so their consumers have to pay for it later. It is essentially subsidizing Internet access. I can buy an iPhone and decide that it is available for free for anyone to take. If I don't tell anyone about it, how will they know? The promotional aspect is separate: either the Internet company or Airtel will have to promote the services and the platform. Allowing companies to buy free access for consumers is not promotion.
Also, Airtel, in the interview with us, didn't disclose rates, the list of companies that signed up, how this price was decided, or how different it is from what regular users pay. Srini Gopalan, Director — Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel, said that "The way our pricing structure works, the pricing is transparent, but I can't talk to you about the details right now." Okay, then.