Facebook and Six other Tech Giants to Launch 'Internet.Org'

Social networking giant Facebook on 21 August 2013 joined forces with six other technology giants to launch Internet.org with an aim to make Internet access affordable for people across the globe.

Internet.org is an initiative of Facebook and six other technology giants, namely Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Founder and CEO, will head the partnership that aims to make Internet access available to the next 5 billion people.

About Internet.org

• The inititiave will see the partners collaborate on developing lower-cost, higher-quality smartphones and deploying Internet access in underserved communities.

• Internet.org brings together a global partnership that will work to overcome current challenges, including making internet access available to those who cannot currently afford it.

• The founding members of Internet.org will develop joint projects, share knowledge, and mobilise industry and governments to bring the world online. 

• The partners will focus on developing technologies that make mobile connectivity more affordable and decrease the cost of delivering data to people worldwide. 

• The partners will also work on ways to use less data by improving the efficiency of the apps built and how they can help businesses drive internet access to get people online.

• The partners will also invest in tools to dramatically reduce the amount of data required to use most apps and internet experiences.

• Potential projects include developing data compression tools, enhancing network capabilities to more efficiently handle data, building systems to cache data efficiently and creating frameworks for apps to reduce data usage.