Facebook launched the internet.org app and free basic services in India
Facebook in partnership with Reliance Communications is providing free mobile internet access to millions of people in India. Today, the social network giant announced the launching of the internet.org app and free basic services in the region.
Last year, Facebook partnered with Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung to establish internet.org, a non-profit organization with an objective make internet access available to the next 5 billion people.
Facebook addressed internet access barriers in India
Facebook hosted the first internet.org summit in New Delhi, India last year. During the summit, the social network giant’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg address the barriers to the internet access in the country. He also explored different ways to be able to provide internet connectivity to more than one billion people in the country, who are not yet connected.
According to Facebook, the customers of Reliance Communications in six states in India including Tamil Nadu, Mahararashtra, Andhra, Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Telangan will have access to different services from communications, news, travel, government information and others.
Some of the sites that are accessible to Indian consumers include AP Speaks, BBC News Facebook, Wikipedia, Times of India, TimesJobs, Translator, iLearn, etc
‘A big step forward’
Providing free internet access in India is “a big step forward in our efforts to connect everyone to the internet, and to help people share their ideas and creativity with the entire world,” according to Facebook.
The social network giant will continue to improve the experience and plans to launch internet.org app to other parts of the world. Aside from India, the service is now actually available in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania.
Zuckerberg previously stated internet.org is just like a 911 telephone call, a basic service that should be available to every person worldwide for free. He previously stated that the social network giant established a laboratory to help engineers in developing apps and services that would reach a wider audience and simulate internet connections in other countries.
Facebook’s efforts are already paying off given the fact that its mobile app’s data use has been reduced significantly, according to Zuckerberg.
The social network giant is focused on expanding its services in the emerging markets, which is beneficial. More users mean more advertising revenue for the social network giant.
