Uninor announces free access to Wikipedia for three months

Uninor has announced free access to Wikipedia for its internet subscribers, an initiative which comes as part of its 'Internet for All' initiative aimed at eliminating obstacles in accessing relevant information by mobile phone users who cannot afford data charges.

As part of the programme, Uninor employees will engage with students and teachers to spread awareness on digital literacy with special focus on Wikipedia in the rural areas.

According to Vivek Sood, CEO, Telewings Communications Services Pvt Ltd (Uninor), by giving free access to Wikipedia, Uninor would be able to put this repository of knowledge in the hands of the masses to empower society.

In 2012, Telenor had said it would introduce Wikipedia to its customers free of data charges through a partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation.

Following the agreement, free access to Wikipedia on mobile phones had been launched in Telenor Business units in Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Montenegro.

The telco last year introduced service-based plans for Facebook and WhatsApp for its subscribers, a disruptive product innovation, which  ushered in a paradigm shift by charging customers for the services rendered rather than the  quantum of data consumption.

With the introduction of free Wikipedia and more such services in the pipeline, Uninor planned to have 50 per cent of its users on the internet by 2017. The free access to Wikipedia offer would start on 1 April and last for three months.

The  offer  would allow all internet users of Uninor  to access Wikipedia - a leading online portal with collection of free knowledge on a wide range of topics with absolutely no data charges.

The company had last year too introduced service-based plans for Facebook and WhatsApp for its subscribers. With the move and other similar initiatives, Uninor planned to have 50 per cent of its users online by 2017.