Airtel Africa, a leading telecommunications service provider with operations in 17 countries across Africa, has announced its partnership with Facebook which will see the launch of Free Basics in Africa that provides subscribers free access to basic mobile internet services such as health, educations, jobs, communication and local content. Customers with an Airtel mobile connection will be able to access all the services that form part of Free Basics without paying extra for mobile data charges.
In the first phase, Free Basics will be launched by Airtel Nigeria, DRC, Gabon and Niger followed by other Airtel Africa operations. The launch in all markets is expected to be completed by March next year.
Airtel Africa had already been working with Facebook since 2014 in enhancing accessibility to the Internet in an affordable manner through the launch of the zero-rated service in Zambia, Kenya, Malawi, Ghana, Seychelles and Rwanda.
Christian de Faria, MD and CEO of Airtel Africa
With Africa’s widest 3G network, Airtel has been at the forefront of the data revolution in Africa. We are cognizant of the power of internet in changing lives of communities and this partnership with Facebook will aid in bringing more people online and reduce the digital divide.
Chris Daniels, VP of Internet.org
I am especially pleased to note that the platform encourages developers to create local content which helps customer’s access services in a language they understand and also keeping them connected online.
