Facebook ties up with RCom to offer free mobile internet services

Social networking site Facebook Inc has tied up with Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications Ltd to offer free access to a handful of online services in India, aimed at rural and low-income users.

Facebook's global project Internet.org, which is intended to provide basic internet access to people who aren't yet connected for free, was introduced in India by CEO Mark Zuckerberg in October last year.

The app will offer access to more than 30 web services, including job listings, healthcare and education sites, and Facebook's own social network and messaging services through the Android operating system.

India, the world's second-biggest mobile market, will become the first country in Asia to get the new Internet.org app, which targets mobile phone users, as Facebook broadens its campaign to boost internet use in the developing world.

Facebook has partnered with more than 150 wireless providers over the past four years to offer free or discounted access to its social network, but the new app is the first time the company has added services beyond its own website.

The service comes to India after having been launched in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Colombia.

With this new initiative, Reliance Communications hopes subscribers from rival telecom networks migrate to Reliance in order to access free internet.

For the present, only Reliance customers in six Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Mahararashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, and Telangana will be able to access Internet-org services through RCom subscription.

On offer are a number of services ranging from news as well as information on maternal health, travel, local jobs, sports, communication, and local government schemes.

To access the services, users have to visit Internet.org web site from their Android phone using Opera Mini mobile web browser. For Internet.org access, users will need to use Android app UC browser. Most of the services will be available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati and Marathi.

The expansion of Internet.org to India has been on the cards for some time and Facebook had launched a $1 million dedicated fund for making apps for India at its Internet.org summit in New Delhi last year.

The benefits of more people trying out mobile internet services will help boost smart phone sales as also marketing of new data plans or pre-paid SIM with mobile internet, which will ultimately more buyers for smart phone makers like Samsung, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia and bring more advertisements for Facebook.