The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has ordered the temporary suspension of Facebook's Free Basics Internet program.

First reported by the Times of India, the agency asked Facebook partner Reliance Communications to put Free Basics on hold while it determines whether the service violates net neutrality.

"As directed by TRAI, the commercial launch of Free Basics has been kept in abeyance, [until] they consider all details and convey a specific approval," a Reliance Communications spokesman told PCMag.

Facebook took a huge step toward delivering Internet access to "the next 5 billion people" in February, when it introduced Free Basics (then called Internet.org) to India—the second-most populous country on the planet.

The app launched in six Indian states, offering residents access to more than three dozen Web services.

Users must be Reliance Communications customers, and are limited to a range of portals found within the Internet.org app: Wikipedia, job listing sites, select weather, sports, and news outlets, and naturally, Facebook and Facebook Messenger.

But those deals with specific providers made some Indian companies uneasy, and a handful of initial partners ditched the program in April over concerns that it is in breach of net neutrality rules.

"These two principles—net neutrality and universal connectivity—can and must coexist," Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg wrote in an editorial penned for an Indian newspaper earlier this year.

Internet.org, he said, does not block or throttle other services or create fast lanes—two things net neutrality advocates oppose.

Neither the TRAI nor Facebook immediately responded to a request for comment. There is no word on when the ban might be lifted.

Last week, the social network called on Indian users to send a message to the TRAI asking the government agency to support Free Basics. The campaign, however, gained proved controversial; opponents claimed its message undermines net neutrality in India.