RCOM, Facebook Join Hands to Spread Internet Inclusion in India
Mumbai, India, February 10, 2015: Reliance Communications, India’s fully-integrated telecom service provider, today announced a ground-breaking partnership with Facebook to offer free data access to useful websites to Reliance customers through Internet.org. Internet.org provides access to popular websites and services with zero data charges in order to make it easier for people to access the Internet, across both the 2G & 3G platforms.
To start with, these services will be available for Reliance customers in the telecom Circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The goal is to extend the services to the rest of the country in a phased manner, and gradually add more services and websites.
The launch of these services aims to bring the power of the Internet to a billion Indians. By bridging the Digital Divide, it strengthens society by creating a larger, more vibrant community of better- informed and better-connected citizens. Customers can now explore what the Internet is all about, and how it can help them in daily life, without having to worry about data charges. These set of services also come with free Facebook access.
Applauding the launch of the service in India, Gurdeep Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Consumer Business, Reliance Communications, said, “We are delighted to announce the launch of Internet.org services in India. Through this partnership with Facebook, we aim to increase Internet inclusion and encourage more Indians to go online. This partnership will not only accelerate Internet penetration in India, it will also open new socio-economic opportunities to users in fields like education, information and commerce.”
Chris Daniels, Vice-President of Internet.org at Facebook, said: “Today, we’re excited to make the Internet available to millions of people in India through the launch of Internet.org and free basic services with Reliance. This is a big step forward in our efforts to connect everyone in India to the Internet, and to help people discover new tools and information that can create more jobs and opportunities.”
The launch of Internet.org helps overcome the data access barrier in customers’ minds, by offering them a set of websites which Reliance customers can access without any data charges.
The list of free services includes:
Careers & Jobs: TimesJobs, Babajob
Education & Knowledge: Wikipedia, wikiHow, Dictionary.com, Translator, Reuters Market Lite, Jagran Josh
Health & Social Welfare: Facts for Life (UNICEF), BabyCenter & MAMA, Girl Effect (Nike Foundation), iLearn (UN Women), Malaria No More, Socialblood, AP Speaks
News: BBC News, Times of India, India Today, NDTV, BBC News, IBNLive, Aaj Tak, Amarujala.com, Daily Bhaskar, Maalai Malar, Maharashtra Times, Jagran, Newshunt, Manoramanews.com
Search: Bing (from Microsoft)
Social: Facebook, Facebook Messenger
Sports: ESPN Cricinfo
Utility: OLX, Astro, Cleartrip, AccuWeather
Reliance customers can access these websites with zero data charges at www.internet.org, or in the Internet.org Android app. Most of the services will be available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati and Marathi, to begin with.
