Airtel Africa, a telecommunications service provider with operations in 17 African countries, yesterday announced its partnership with Facebook to provide Free Basics in all these countries.
The launch in all markets is to be completed by March next year.
Free Basics is a set of basic Web sites and services to introduce people to the Internet. Services include providing free health, education and finance-related information.
Free Basics form part of Internet.org. In September, the social network renamed the service, "to better distinguish the Internet.org initiative from the programmes and services we're providing, including Free Basics".
In the first phase, Free Basics will be launched in Airtel Nigeria, DRC, Gabon and Niger, followed by other Airtel Africa markets. Customers with an Airtel mobile connection will be able to access all the services that form part of Free Basics without paying extra for data charge.
"We are cognizant of the power of Internet in changing lives of communities and this partnership with Facebook will aid in bringing more people online and reduce the digital divide," says Christian de Faria, MD and CEO of Airtel Africa.
"More than one billion people have access to Internet.org's free basic services across Asia, Africa and Latin America today. Our intention is to help the people in Africa access relevant basic services that will help them improve their lives and also lead to more adoption of the Internet," says Chris Daniels, VP of Internet.org.
"I am especially pleased to note that the platform encourages developers to create local content which helps customers access services in a language they understand and also keeps them connected online."
In June, Cell C and Facebook partnered to bring free Internet access to consumers through the launch of Internet.org in SA.
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