Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Free Mobile Internet Service Offered by Facebook

 

Facebook has recently announced that it has plans to scale up its new free of charge internet service for mobile devices. This decision was made after the company managed to successfully launch its mobile app in 17 developing countries this past year.

The comments were made on Facebook’s official blog recently, where the company mentioned that it would be offering the new free internet for mobile platforms via its Internet.org program. The company is currently in partnership with various mobile operators who will help them launch the new free internet service in various countries.

Facebook’s Internet.org has managed to bring around 9 million users online since its launch last year. VP of the product, Chris Daniels recently told operators that Facebook had developed the platform along with six technology partners who brought together around 4.5 billion previously unconnected people online mostly in third world countries such as Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The new platform basically provides a pared down access to the internet which is free to users, and of course, comes along with access to Facebook’s messaging and social networking service. According to reports, over the past year, Facebook has managed to bring millions of new users to its service.

According to Daniels, this new platform is basically a customer acquisition tool which is aimed mainly at mobile phone and tablet operators, which in turn enables them to benefit from getting a very light amount of free data for free, rather than having to pay for the service.

While the new service has been welcomed by many, it has also faced some fierce criticism in some places. For instance, in India, the Internet.org platform was launched in partnership with Reliance Communications and faced a backlash from local technology and internet providers who questioned the motives of the service, especially when it came to the principles of having a neutral internet.

So far, the company has faced no scrutiny in the majority of countries where it has been launched, with most countries seeing the initiative as a pro connectivity service which will further strengthen the use of the internet. The service has only been able to launch in a few countries, but with collaborating with local mobile operators, Facebook plans to push this service further into other countries as well.

Source: technogigs.com

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