In an apparent expansion of the “Internet.org” project, social network Facebook said that it is inviting more mobile operators to participate in the project.
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Up to now Facebook has been working with approximately a dozen operators in 17 countries to deliver an app that provides people with free access to a set of basic Internet services.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said Facebook could become the Internet on-ramp for the world. And Internet.org users accessed health services more than a million times in the past month.
Moreover, today the company said that the ratio in which users are paid only further proves the weight of company’s efforts towards the proliferation of free Internet. This is driven by several positive factors, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. 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. Currently, Facebook has tied with specific operators to introduce the service in different countries. (Facebook and Internet.org could face regulation in India, for one place.).
“Because these services have to be specially built to these specifications, we started by offering just a few”, a Facebook blog post said at the time.
In May, Facebook announced that it was expanding its developer portal to any company or website that wanted to be part of Internet.org. The move was an attempt to address concerns that Internet.org was actually stifling a free and open Internet. These points show that Internet.org is not only a successful tool in helping bring people online, but it is successful in showing people the value of the internet and helping to accelerate its adoption.
Internet.org offers pared-down web services for free users, along with, of course, access to Facebook’s virtual space and messaging services.
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The net neutrality argument will continue on unabashed, but it’s a very important part of the package.
