Free Basics Platform is now live – more than 60 new services are available across
the 29 countries where Free Basic services are available, including 14 in Africa
Praekelt Foundation and Facebook announce a
partnership that aims to accelerate the impact
of Internet and more organisations to create
services for the Free Basics Platform
Facebook kicks off its activities at AfricaCom
2015 by sharing the progress of Free Basics, a
programme that brings relevant basic internet
services without data charges to people in
growing countries.
Facebook also shared the latest progress of the
Free Basics Platform, which is now available to
all developers around the world, and today
together with the Praekelt Foundation
announced the Praekelt Foundation Incubator
for Free Basics, a global partnership to support
developers building for the Free Basics
Platform.
Facebook has, to date, brought free basic
internet services to people in 29 countries,
including 14 in Africa, and brought more than 15
million people online. Free Basics is now
available to more than one billion people across
Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Some of the African countries where Free Basics
has been launched include Kenya, South Africa,
Tanzania, Senegal, Zambia, Ghana, Angola and
Malawi. Mobile phone users in these countries
now have access to a set of websites and
services with no data charges, in categories
including maternal health, education, news
updates, as well as local information.
The program is making an impact on people’s
lives by providing free health, education, and
economic information. For instance,
SmartBusiness, a website that helps people learn
to launch and run a business, now sees 5x more
daily searches within their service since
launching in South Africa in July, meaning more
people are getting access to important economic
information. BabyCenter and MAMA both reach
millions of people around the globe with vital
health information for pregnancy and parenting,
including 3.4 million people through
Internet.org’s free basics services alone.
“When people are connected, they can achieve
extraordinary things as individuals and as a
community. Connectivity brings opportunity for
people around the world, and we’ve seen this
firsthand here in Africa, where we began this
journey,” said Ime Archibong, director of
strategic partnerships at Facebook.
Internet.org Platform is now Live
In May we introduced the Platform as a way for
developers to easily create services that
integrate with Free Basics, and a way to give
people more choice and control over the
services they access. And now, the Free Basics
Platform is live.
Archibong continued, “Our mission is to connect
the world, and we know when we bring
communities together we can have even more
impact. That’s why we launched the Free Basics
Platform to work with as many developers, non-
profits and the social good community, and
entrepreneurs as possible to extend the benefits
of connectivity to diverse, local communities.
Today is the next step in this journey, and I’m
thrilled to announce the Praekelt Foundation
Incubator for Free Basics here in Africa together
with the team. The people I have met and
impact I have seen from the benefits of
connectivity simply remind me we are only 1%
done. Together Facebook and the developer,
entrepreneur and non-profit communities in
Africa can work together to bring opportunity
to people in Africa and around the world.”
Posted by: Philip Ochika