Last year Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, announced the launch of internet.org, a global partnership with the goal of making Internet access available to the next 5 billion people.

Under this project, the company is partnering with handset makers, telecom operators and equipment vendors to drive connectivity. Airtel’s chief Sunil Mittal also met Zuckerberg over dinner to discuss possible partnership.

Business Line met Chris Weasler, Director of Global Connectivity at Facebook, on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona recently, to understand the challenges and the counter strategy in this mission.

What are the challenges in connecting the next billion?

Internet.org was born out of our mission to make the world more open and connected. There are significant barriers in connecting people. The task is bigger than what one company can achieve, so that’s where the partnership comes in. We launch projects that attack specific barriers to getting on the Internet. Some of them are related to cost barriers like cost of device and price of service. Some places lack physical infrastructure or local language content.

Telecom companies have been worried about players like Facebook directly competing for revenue share. What role do you see for them?

Operators can play a big role in connecting the next 5 billion. Telcos are natural partners for us. Nearly 80 per cent of users who are not on Internet live in areas with wireless coverage. The most actionable thing we can do is to work with operators. There are primarily two issues — affordability and awareness. The work that we are doing already in countries like the Philippines and Paraguay is an effort to find sustainable approach with telcos that drives mobile data penetration and at the same time drives revenues for them.

How open are telcos to work with FB?

We have good alignment with operators. We have built engaging services that their subscribers want to use. And because it’s engaging, it drives data revenue for operators. And it’s free. We don’t charge end user. We invest billions of dollars in developing this.

How long can you sustain this model and offer free connectivity?

The basic construct we are developing with operators is that we identify some basic service that provide utility services like weather, health information, wikipedia, search and social networking. So that users can understand why they would want internet. It is also light weight on carrier network which makes it easier for telcos to offer for free. This also leads to discovery of new content. Many people are aware of FB and if you give opportunity to try it for free that that will get them hooked.

Do you see FB becoming something bigger than what it is today with a portfolio of socially relevant services?

We already have a number of applications. We have FB Messenger, later once the deal closes we will have WhatsApp, there is Instagram. We aren't married to single application approach. Its multi-application world and we will that support strategy. We are just getting started. Internet.org is a start up within Facebook. So we are at various stages of launching project trials.

Any plans to start a project in India?

India is really important to us. Our policy team is engaged with the Indian government. It’s a healthy dialogue. We have recently announced research collaboration with Unilever. That effort is meant to set the foundation that will lead to projects.

How does the WhatsApp deal fit into this mission?

We are excited about WhatsApp deal. Both Mark and Jan got together because of the intenet.org vision. Both guys have this as the solitary mission. How exactly we work together is yet to be determined.

Will FB get into providing connectivity solution like Google is experimenting with the balloon project?

There are lot of efforts and initiatives and approach focused on connectivity. Our approach is to work with operators. We think wireless operators are in the best position to connect the next 5 billion people.

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