Social media giant Facebook has launched a programme that will allow mobile users in India to access the Internet for free. To start with, the California-headquartered company has partnered with Reliance Communications to offer free access to 33 specific websites, including jobs, weather and news sites.

The initiative is part of a global programme called Internet.org aimed at connecting the next 5 billion users. Facebook has already launched the scheme in a few African countries.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a post that connecting Indian users was important to his global ambitions.

“More than a billion people in India don’t have access to the internet. That means they can’t enjoy the same opportunities many of us take for granted, and the entire world is robbed of their ideas and creativity. Today’s announcement is just one step towards changing that,” Zuckerberg wrote.

People on the Reliance network in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Telangana will get free data access to the specific websites immediately. “Over the next 90 days we will roll this out pan India. More websites will also be added to the bouquet,” said Gurdeep Singh, President and CEO, RCom.

Facebook is in talks with other telecom operators, including Airtel and Vodafone, to launch the programme and make basic Internet services available for free.

Though the Internet giant has altruistic intentions, it also wants to ensure that it acts as a gateway to the Internet for first-time users on the mobile platform.

“While Google, with its search engine and other services like maps, has managed to become the gateway to the Internet on PCs and laptops, Facebook is trying to be the first point of entry on the mobile platform. Ultimately, the more users they hook with this free offer, the more advertising revenues they can chase,” said a market analyst.

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