Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg’s quest to bring cheap, affordable and accessible internet to remote and areas which are not yet online. Just over a year ago, the Internet.Org intiative was announced to push the initiative further. And over a year after the company is going further by announcing the Internet.Org app which will bring free internet access to users who are not yet online.
Internet.Org App
according to Facebook 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.
The Internet.Org initiative is taking off by rolling out in Zambia and for now is available to Airtel subscribers in the country. The app for now basically provides access to 13 different services including Airtel. Other services include Google Search, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Zambia uReport, AccuWeather, eZeLibrary, Facts for Life, Go Zambia Jobs, Kokoliko, MAMA (Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action), Wikipedia, WRAPP (Women’s Rights App).
If users get to click on links outside these aforementioned service, there would be a warning that users would incur extra charges to access other website links.
The App is available for Airtel Subscribers in Zambia, and users can access the sevice through www.internet.org, Internet.Org Android app or Within Facebook for Android app. The application is expected to work on Feature phone which is very common in Zambia as well as Android phones. The service would as time goes on be available in other parts of the world.
