The new mobile app, dubbed as Internet.org, will feature free Facebook access and other web-based services to people who for one reason or another, have no access to the Internet. The app will be in partnership with Bharti Airtel, an Indian company. This means that the service will be available exclusively to Bharti subscribers that are based in Zambia.
Apart from having Facebook's social network and messaging services, the upcoming Internet.org is said to feature a handful of other useful services such as weather information, health information, job listings and the popular online encyclopedia otherwise known as Wikipedia. Other web options that are available include Google searches, Unicef, Wrapp, eZeLibrary, and the Zambia Ureport.
"We uncovered two main barriers to people connecting to the Internet. The first is affordability. Getting a data plan is too costly for so many people. The second is awareness. People don't know what they could get on the internet," Product management director for Internet.org Guy Rosen says.
Facebook seemed to be doing all possible efforts to increase the number of its users. Every quarter, there are about 40 million users with active Facebook accounts that are added to its users' total record. The majority of these users are located outside Europe and North America. In developing countries, it is highly likely that people in this region will cite Facebook as one of their first Internet encounters.
"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," said Rosen.
Facebook has been offering its social network services, whether free or discounted, for more than four years by entering a partnership deal with over 150 wireless providers. In Zambia, where the population is said to be 15 million, the new Internet.org app will be offered by Facebook to deliver not only free social network services but also other services from the Web, something that Facebook will be doing for the very first time.
As of now, the app is available to users in Zambia. Rosen said that sooner or later, the app will also be available in other countries. Smartphone users will have no problem installing the app while feature phone users can access the app by visiting the official Internet.org site. If someone in Zambia is a current Airtel subscriber and has the Android Facebook app already installed in his mobile, he will see that the Internet.org is included in the menu option as a free service feature.
