Facebook's new mobile app offers 'free basic' internet services in Zambia

The Internet.org app ditches data charges for health, weather, Wikipedia and social networking, with more countries to follow. Facebook’s latest mobile application is only available in one country to customers of one mobile operator, but it’s part of the social network’s much bigger plans for the developing world.


The company has launched its Internet.org app in Zambia, as an Android app for people using the Airtel mobile network. The app provides access to Facebook and its Messenger instant-messaging service, as well as Wikipedia, Google search and AccuWeather, as well as local health and jobs services including Go Zambia Jobs, Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action and Women’s Rights App.


Facebook’s deal with Airtel means people using the app will not have to pay data charges for using any of these services.


“By providing free basic services via the app, we hope to bring more people online and help them discover valuable services they might not have otherwise,” wrote Facebook’s product management director Guy Rosen in a blog post.


Rosen added that the company plans to “continue to improve the experience and roll it out to other parts of the world” as it strikes more agreements with mobile operators. Facebook originally launched its Internet.org initiative in August 2013, with fellow technology companies Samsung, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Nokia, Opera and MediaTek joining the social network as founder members.


Its stated goal is removing “barriers in developing countries to connecting and joining the knowledge economy” by reducing the costs of getting online through mobile devices. Obviously, spreading Facebook’s services in these countries is part of that too.


The inclusion of Google search in the new Internet.org app is an interesting development, since Google was not one of its founder members, and has run its own zero-data initiative called Free Zone – including a partnership with Airtel in India. Google’s own services: Gmail and Google Plus as well as search – are its focus.


Google and Facebook are also competing to find new ways of delivering internet access to remote parts of the world that aren’t well served by existing mobile networks. Google’s Project Loon is a network of high-altitude balloons.


“We believe that it might actually be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying around the globe on the stratospheric winds, that provides internet access to the earth below,” explained its project head Mike Cassidy in June 2013.


And Facebook? “In our effort to connect the whole world with Internet.org, we’ve been working on ways to beam internet to people from the sky,” wrote Zuckerberg in a status update in March 2014, citing “drones, satellites and lasers to deliver the internet to everyone”.


Facebook isn’t flying laser-toting drones over Zambia just yet, but with the Internet.org app’s launch through a traditional mobile operator, the country is at the forefront of the social network’s global growth ambitions.


“Zambia will now be the first country where we’ve been able to provide a whole set of free basic services,” wrote Zuckerberg in a new status update as the Internet.org app was announced.


“Right now, only 15% of people in Zambia have access to the internet. Soon, everyone will be able to use the internet for free to find jobs, get help with reproductive health and other aspects of health, and use tools like Facebook to stay connected with the people they love.”


The guardian.com