Only available through Reliance Communications.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Facebook’s Internet.org project has taken its biggest leap forward to date after it launched in India, offering free access to a suite of online services covering health, education, jobs, and communication.
The service is run by non-profit organization Internet.org with the support of Facebook, Ericsson, Samsung, Opera, and Nokia, and aims to make the internet more accessible by providing a set of basic services for free.
The app will initially only be available to customers of Reliance Communications in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, and Telangana, but Facebook is confident a beachhead can be established that will eventually enable access for the entire nation.
“…To continue connecting the world, we have to connect India. More than a billion people in India don’t have access to the internet. That means they can’t enjoy the same opportunities many of us take for granted, and the entire world is robbed of their ideas and creativity,” wrote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an official statement.
The Internetnet.org app first launched in Zambia last June and has since been released to Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Columbia. The specific mixture of services offered by Internet.org depends on the location it is being accessed from — for example, last month the app launched in Colombia with 16 services in contrast to the Indian iteration’s 38.
Emerging markets have become a focal point for the internet and tech industries because many of them have long become ubiquitous in stabilized Western markets; yet droves of new users are going online in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The number of Indians on the internet has skyrocketed, rising sharply from 0.5 percent of the billion-plus population in 2000 to 15.1 percent in 2013.
The majority of the app’s services will be in English, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Gujarati, and Marathi. The full list includes:
- Aaj Tak: News in Hindi
- AccuWeather: Weather information
- amarujala.com: News in Hindi
- AP Speaks: Engage with local government
- Babajob: Search for jobs
- BabyCenter & MAMA: Learn about pregnancy and childcare
- BBC News
- Bing Search
- Cleartrip: Check train and flight schedules & buy tickets
- Daily Bhaskar: Read local news
- Dictionary.com
- ESPN Cricinfo: Cricket updates
- Facts for Life: Health and hygiene information
- Girl Effect: Articles and tips for girls
- HungamaPlay: Music
- IBNLive: News
- iLearn: Learn from Women Entrepreneurs
- India Today: Local news
- Internet Basics
- Jagran: Local news
- Jagran Josh: Education and career information
- Maalai Malar: News in Tamil
- Maharashtra Times: News in Marathi
- Malaria No More: Malaria information
- manoramanews.com: Local news
- Messenger: Send messages to friends and family
- NDTV: Read news
- Newshunt: Read news in English
- OLX: Buy and sell products and services
- Reliance Astrology: Read your horoscope
- Reuters Market Lite: Get farming and crop information
- Socialblood: Register to donate blood
- Times of India: Read news
- TimesJobs: Search for jobs
- Translator: Translate words and phrases
- Wikipedia: Find information
- wikiHow: Find information