By Vidura Prabath
Revolutions come out of frustration even though they vary by purpose. Strolling down the memory lane, brings French revolution as a turning point in the history which completely changed the whole complexion of Europe with its tides also expanding across the world.
It is believed, Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI back then said ‘’If you have no bread, let them eat cake’’ having no clue of the plight of the general public in the wake of French revolution. She is supposed to have said this when she was told that the French populace had no bread to eat.
Revolt of Millennials and Gen Z
It is said, the revolution emerged from within the general public against the ruling class who rigidly discriminated and downplayed on the working class people. It eventually resulted in the abolition of feudal system, emancipation of the individual, division of property and establishment of equity in the then society, all of which are outcomes of great sacrifices.
History Repeats in Sri Lanka
The history seems to recapitulate with the recent data revolution triggered by the pressure on consumers of ISPs with the division of day and night time quotas for internet data usage. It is as if asking the customers to don’t use mobile phones if they don’t have data.
Customers have often experienced a shortage of day time data due to the heavy usage in comparison with night time data. It is a widely known fact that customers are waiting till midnight to download files to save the day time data and many customers invariably waste the night time quota.
As time passed by, customers realized the futility of splitting the data package into day and night and when they inquired more about it, they understood that the ISPs only provide half of the allocated data for the money spent by customers puzzling many consumers in a social media age”.
This triggered a huge frustration among the people and it was apparent with the way they approached this issue by forming Facebook groups and educating people about this dilemma during quarantine, self- quarantine, lockdown, shutdown, Work from Home or curfew as their consumption of digital properties grew staying safe.
It is surprising to see how this stemmed out suddenly, but it senses like a long held fortress been shattered to gain freedom. This is a result of the collective effort of a set of bold people who denied their fate and who wished to fight against the inequities. This revolution has expanded to all parts of the Island thanks to social media platforms.
Bold efforts and the commitment of frustrated users raised major concerns among ISPs even to the extent which forced them to provide more data. It is reported that the effect of the revolution has already caused ISPs to come up with a solution and some ISPs are carrying out internal discussions about this issue and will be likely to demolish the day/night split and offer 100% anytime data packages which is applaudable.
Listen, and listen carefully
It is noteworthy to mention that some ISPs are listening to their subscribers’ feedback and immediately taking measures to liberate them by introducing anytime data packages with the support of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL).
Mobile users have felt the need of data more than ever with the ongoing tough times with COVID – 19 and some ISPs have displayed great empathy to the requests made by their customers and providing adequate reliefs for the betterment of users.
