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The Internet.org app will offer, in partnership
with wireless operator Airtel , more than a dozen services
including online encyclopedia Wikipedia, websites devoted to
weather, job listings and health information, as well as
Facebook's own social network and messaging service.
The app will be available in additional countries over the
coming months and years, Guy Rosen, product management director
for Facebook's Internet.org effort said on Wednesday.
Facebook will not pay Airtel for the bandwidth, Rosen said, but
Airtel will benefit as users who are exposed to Internet
services eventually decide to pay for broader, unrestricted
access.
Access to the information on the app's included services is
free, but links that lead to information on other websites will
require that users pay wireless data charges. The free version
of Facebook in the app does not allow for the video playback.
Facebook has partnered with more than 150 wireless providers
over the past four years to offer free or discounted access to
its social network, but the new app in Zambia marks the first
time the company has added Web services beyond its own social
network to the menu of free services.
The move comes as Facebook steps up investments in its
Internet.org project, which seeks to connect the “next 5
billion” users to the Internet, many of whom lives in places
like Africa and India. In March Facebook announced plans to use
drones and satellites to deliver Internet connectivity to people
in certain parts of the world.
The initiative has the potential to boost the size of Facebook’s
audience, which currently totals 1.32 billion monthly users.
(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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