Facebook’s Internet.org app brings free mobile internet to the Philippines

After rolling out the service in six countries since 2014, Facebook today announced the availability of the Internet.org app for millions of people in the Philippines.

The app provides mobile phone users free access to basic internet services related to education, health, employment, communication, and information and news.

This means Filipinos will now be able to browse Wikipedia for information, read the Inquirer for news updates, check the weather using Accuweather, look for jobs on Jobstreet, chat with friends on Facebook and more – without data charges. However, it’s limited to a bunch of curated sites that Facebook has chosen.

Through Internet.org, Facebook wants to bring internet services to two-thirds of the world who are not yet online, and it’s partnering with telcos across the globe to reach this goal. In the Philippines – the seventh country to get the service; the first in Southeast Asia – Facebook signed a deal with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company’s mobile arm Smart Communications, which has 69 million subscribers.

“We are working with operators, content partners, and governments from all over the world to address the barriers that prevent people from connecting and joining the knowledge economy. We are excited to bring the Internet.org app to the Philippines and give people access to internet services and tools that can help create new ideas and opportunities,” says Markku Makelainen, director of global operator partnerships at Facebook.

Apart from the Philippines, Internet.org has launched in Colombia, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, India, and Zambia.

Digital inclusion

For its initial phase, the Internet.org app allows Filipinos to get free access to a buffet of 24 websites.

Subscribers can download the app on Google Play Store, or simply text INTERNET to 9999 to access.

Smart says the partnership with Facebook is in line with its own drive for more digital inclusion. Smart has launched a number of promos for this purpose since early 2011. The latest promo offering subscribers 30MB of free mobile internet access per day was unveiled in September 2014.

The Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines estimates that only 38 percent of the Philippine population had internet access as of mid-2014.