Facebook launches internet.org in India
More than a 100 million Indian residents will now be able to use the Internet.org app on their phones.
Facebook has partnered with Reliance Communications , an Indian communications company to give people on the reliance network in six Indian states access to free basic internet services for health, education, jobs and communication.
Statistics show that more than a billion people in India do not have access to the internet and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes the launch of internet.org is a step towards changing that.
People on the Reliance network in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Mahararashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Telangana will now have free data access to more than three dozen services.
”We still have a long way to go to connect India. But I’m optimistic that by getting free basic services into people’s hands, more change can follow pretty rapidly”. he said on his Facebook page.
Over the last year Facebook has rolled out Internet.org free basic services to different countries with more than 150 million people in total across Africa and Latin America being connected.
In Africa, Ghana became the fifth country globally to receive the internet.org application.
More than 6 million people who were not connected to the internet are now connected, according to Zuckerberg, thanks to internet.org.