Facebook had announced its ambitious Internet.org project last year with an aim to bring affordable internet access to emerging markets like India and Africa. Today, the social network has launched the Internet.org mobile app that gives users in Zambia, Africa free access to a handful of online services on their mobile phones.
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. Affordability and awareness are significant barriers to internet adoption for many and today we are introducing the Internet.org app to make the internet accessible to more people by providing a set of free basic services.
said Facebook in a company blog post.
The app provides basic access to 13 different services — including Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Google search and Wikipedia for free. Other apps that can be accessed are AccuWeather, Facts of Life, Go Zambia Jobs, the women’s rights app WRAPP, and a basic library of Zambian laws and many more. Internet .org app will be available first to Airtel subscribers in Zambia and will continue to improve the experience and roll it out to other parts of the world.
The app will work on Android phones as well as the simple “feature phones” that are used by the majority of people in Zambia. It will be available in additional countries over the coming months and years.