Facebook continues its initiative of bringing internet access to low-income areas around the world, with CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announcing Wednesday the launch of its Internet.org app in Colombia.
The move brings Instituto Colombiano para la Evaluacion de la Educacion, a service for education, and Agronet, which provides information for agriculture and rural development, to Tigo customers for free, according to Engadget. Access to Facebook, Messenger, UNICEF, Wikipedia and AccuWeather will also be available.
Zuckerberg said during a Q&A in Bogota that the service will help Colombians in different situations, such as looking for jobs, talking to doctors and getting local news.
The CEO said in a Facebook post that only 50 percent of people in Colombia had access to the internet before Internet.org became available in the country, PC Magazine reported.
"By launching the Internet.org app on the Tigo network today, we're giving people free access to basic Internet services for jobs, health, finance, and communication," Zuckerberg said. "By partnering with the Colombian government, we're also able to include e-government services from the first time, for education and agriculture."
Internet.org has already been launched in Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania, but Colombia is the first Latin American country to get the service, PC Magazine reported. Whether or not China will be the next country to get the app has yet to be revealed.
Zuckerberg said Facebook plans on bringing the app to other countries around the world to increase the amount of people that can get on the internet.
"I really deeply believe we are best serving the world ... by continuing to push for as much expression as possible."
