Anil Ambani led Reliance Communications has been roped in by Facebook to offer its customers in the country free data access for select websites through Internet.org. Internet.org is a Facebook initiative to provide access to popular websites and services with zero data charge to make it easier for people to access the Internet across both the 2G and 3G platforms.
“Internet is the integral part of our well being. It is tool to transform lifestyle. Data is the raw material of the information age,” said Gurdeep Singh, chief executive officer, consumer business, Reliance Communications.
The list of websites that users can access through Internet.org are Facebook, Facebook Messenger, TimesJobs, Wikipedia, Reuters Market Lite, and Jagran Josh, among others.An Internet.org mobile app is also made available. The services will be available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati and Marathi.
To begin with, the service will be available for Reliance customers in the telecom circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Going forward, it will be expanded to other circles as well.
According to Reliance Communications, it has a subscriber base of over 110 million customers in the country.