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Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said back in February that he wanted to make basic internet access free in emerging markets, through the Internet.org initiative. Well here we go: Internet.org just r that will act as a limited portal to the internet, and it’s rolling out first in Zambia.
On Thursday Internet.org revealed a partnership with the Zambian subsidiary of Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel. Airtel’s customers there will be able to use the Internet.org Android app – or the Internet.org website, or the Facebook for Android app – to access a set of services at zero cost. Facebook and Messenger are in there of course, as are Wikipedia, AccuWeather, Google Search, and a selection of local services such as jobs portals, the women’s rights app WRAPP, and a basic library of Zambian laws.
According to a statement by Internet.org product management director Guy Rosen:
“Over 85% of the world’s population lives in areas with existing cellular coverage, yet only about 30% of the total population accesses the internet. Affordability and awareness are significant barriers to internet adoption for many and today we are introducing the Internet.org app to make the internet accessible to more people by providing a set of free basic services. With this app, people can browse a set of useful health, employment and local information services without data charges. By providing free basic services via the app, we hope to bring more people online and help them discover valuable services they might not have otherwise.”
This is essentially an expansion of the existing Facebook Zero program, through which Facebook strikes deals with carriers in emerging markets (including Airtel) to offer the social network for free. Twitter and Google do the same, as does Wikipedia, though the latter is at least doing it for purely altruistic reasons.
The problem with these “zero-rating” deals is … well, I’ve laid out this argument before and I no doubt will again, but seeing as the release of this app feels like a watershed of sorts, let’s list the pros and cons in handy bullet-point form:
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said back in February that he wanted to make basic internet access free in emerging markets, through the Internet.org initiative. Well here we go: Internet.org just r that will act as a limited portal to the internet, and it’s rolling out first in Zambia.
On Thursday Internet.org revealed a partnership with the Zambian subsidiary of Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel. Airtel’s customers there will be able to use the Internet.org Android app – or the Internet.org website, or the Facebook for Android app – to access a set of services at zero cost. Facebook and Messenger are in there of course, as are Wikipedia, AccuWeather, Google Search, and a selection of local services such as jobs portals, the women’s rights app WRAPP, and a basic library of Zambian laws.
According to a statement by Internet.org product management director Guy Rosen:
“Over 85% of the world’s population lives in areas with existing cellular coverage, yet only about 30% of the total population accesses the internet. Affordability and awareness are significant barriers to internet adoption for many and today we are introducing the Internet.org app to make the internet accessible to more people by providing a set of free basic services. With this app, people can browse a set of useful health, employment and local information services without data charges. By providing free basic services via the app, we hope to bring more people online and help them discover valuable services they might not have otherwise.”
This is essentially an expansion of the existing Facebook Zero program, through which Facebook strikes deals with carriers in emerging markets (including Airtel) to offer the social network for free. Twitter and Google do the same, as does Wikipedia, though the latter is at least doing it for purely altruistic reasons.
The problem with these “zero-rating” deals is … well, I’ve laid out this argument before and I no doubt will again, but seeing as the release of this app feels like a watershed of sorts, let’s list the pros and cons in handy bullet-point form:
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