Facebook introduced a new app Thursday designed to bring free basic Internet services to Zambia, another step in the social network's move to bring Internet access to the entire world.
With the new app, called Internet.org, mobile users in the African country can access health, employment, and local information services without having to pay data charges, according to PC Magazine. These services include Facebook, Google Search, AccuWeather, Wikipedia, and women's rights app WRAPP.
"We believe that every person should have access to free basic Internet services - tools for health, education, jobs and basic communication," Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, wrote in a blog post Thursday announcing the app.
Subscribers in Airtel will be the first to receive the app. Guy Rosen, product management director of Facebook, wrote in a blog post that the company is looking to bring the service to the rest of the world in the future, The Guardian reported.
Internet.org was initially launched in 2013 by Facebook along with Samsung, Qualcomm, Nokia, Opera, Ericsson, and MediaTek.
Other companies are working on making Web access global, such as Google, which is a developing a network of high-altitude balloons for its Project Loon.
"We believe that it might actually be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying around the globe on the stratospheric winds, that provides Internet access to the earth blow," Mike Cassidy, lead of the project, said in June 2013.
Zuckerberg said Facebook's work with other technology companies has allowed it to bring Internet access to 3 million people. He added that currently, Web access is only available to 15 percent of people in Zambia.
"Soon, everyone will be able to use the Internet for free to find jobs, get help with reproductive health and other aspects of health, and use tools like Facebook to stay connected with the people they love," Zuckerberg said. "This is a big step forward in achieving the mission of Facebook and Internet.org."
Internet.org is just one of the moves Facebook is making for global Internet connection. The company's Connectivity Lab is currently working on ways to use drones, satellites and lasers to connect users around the world.
