tech:
Goodnews facebook launches free internet in Nigeria (see how to use it)
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Internet giants, Facebook in
collaboration with Airtel, have launched Internet.org Free Basics, a
free internet browsing app in Nigeria.
Free Basics is an initiative by Facebook
and several other partner companies to deliver zero-rated internet
services to the 4 billion-odd people still offline. Facebook reaches out
to local telcos and get them to zero-rate certain sites and services
that meet Facebook’s criteria.
“Free Basics offers Nigerians, including
90 million people who are currently offline, the opportunity to access
news, health information and services like Jobberman that were built by
Nigerians and other developers across West Africa — all without having
to pay for data,” Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg said.
Airtel is Facebook’s telecoms partner in
Nigeria. As a result, Nigeria will now 37 countries with Free
Basic-activated countries.
“We’re pleased to take this big step
forward in our partnership with Facebook, bringing more people online in
Africa’s most populous country and helping to further narrow the
digital divide,” said Airtel Africa CEO, Christian de Faria about the
partnership.
Critics, some of whom have organized
under the banner of “savetheinternet. in” say that the internet.org
offers neither the entire internet, nor is it a charitable organization,
for which .org domain names are usually used. Facebook responded by
changing the name of the service in 2015 to “Free Basics”.
Moreover, the critics argue that if
Indians and other poor-world internet internet users spend the vast
majority of their time within Facebook’s walled garden, that would force
other businesses to set up shop on Facebook rather than on their own
websites or elsewhere on the internet. This would give Facebook enormous
power over competitors and indeed over the internet.
There is some evidence to show their
fears are not unfounded: a survey last year found that millions of
Facebook users in the poor world don’t realize they are actually using
the internet. Facebook’s critics succeeded in getting Facebook to open
up access to Free Basics. The new regime allows any business, including
competitors, apply to join if they meet certain technical requirements.
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