Reliance Communications & Facebook launches Internet.org services

RCOM, Facebook 

Join Hands to Spread Internet Inclusion in India

      

Partners launch Internet.org services, bring power of the Internet to a billion Indians

        Customers will now enjoy access to 

popular websites with zero data charges, 

including Facebook

Mumbai, 10 February 2015: Reliance Communications, India’s fully-integrated telecom service provider,  announced a ground-breaking partnership with Facebook to offer free data access to useful websites to Reliance customers through Internet.org. Internet.org provides access to popular websites and services with zero data charges in order to make it easier for people to access the Internet, across both the 2G & 3G platforms.

To start with, these services will be available for Reliance customers in the telecom Circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The goal is to extend the services to the rest of the country in a phased manner, and gradually add more services and websites.

The launch of these services aims to bring the power of the Internet to a billion Indians. By bridging the Digital Divide, it strengthens society by creating a larger, more vibrant community of better- informed and better-connected citizens. Customers can now explore what the Internet is all about, and how it can help them in daily life, without having to worry about data charges. These set of services also come with free Facebook access.

Applauding the launch of the service in India, Gurdeep Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Consumer Business, Reliance Communications, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of Internet.org services in India. Through this partnership with Facebook, we aim to increase Internet inclusion and encourage more Indians to go online. This partnership will not only accelerate Internet penetration in India, it will also open new socio-economic opportunities to users in fields like education, information and commerce.”

Chris Daniels, Vice-President of Internet.org at Facebook, said: “Today, we’re excited to make the Internet available to millions of people in India through the launch of Internet.org and free basic services with Reliance. This is a big step forward in our efforts to connect everyone in India to the Internet, and to help people discover new tools and information that can create more jobs and opportunities.”

The launch of Internet.org helps overcome the data access barrier in customers’ minds, by offering them a set of websites which Reliance customers can access without any data charges.

The list of free services includes:

Careers & Jobs: TimesJobs, Babajob

Education & Knowledge: Wikipedia, wikiHow, 

Dictionary.com, Translator, Reuters Market Lite, 

Jagran Josh

Health & Social Welfare: Facts for Life (UNICEF), 

BabyCenter & MAMA, Girl Effect (Nike Foundation), 

iLearn  (UN Women), Malaria No More, 

Social blood, AP Speaks

News: BBC News, Times of India, India Today,

NDTV, BBC News, IBNLive, Aaj Tak, Amarujala.com, 

Daily Bhaskar, Maalai Malar, Maharashtra Times, 

Jagran, Newshunt, Manoramanews.com

Search: Bing (from Microsoft)

Social: Facebook, Facebook Messenger

Sports: ESPN Cricinfo

Utility: OLX, Astro, Cleartrip, AccuWeather

Reliance customers can access these websites with zero data charges at www.internet.org, or in the Internet.org Android app. Most of the services will be available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati and Marathi, to begin with.

About Reliance Communications

Reliance Communications Limited founded by the late Shri Dhirubhai H Ambani (1932-2002) is the flagship company of the Reliance Group. The Reliance Group currently has a net worth in excess of Rs. 91,500 crore (US$ 15.3 billion), cash flows of Rs. 10,200 crore (US$ 1.7 billion), net profit of Rs. 4,700 crore (US$ 0.8 billion).

Reliance Communications is India's foremost and truly integrated telecommunications service provider. The Company has a customer base of over 110 million, including over 2.6 million individual overseas retail customers. Reliance Communications corporate clientele includes over 39,000 Indian and multinational corporations including small and medium enterprises and over 290 global, regional and domestic carriers.

Reliance Communications has established a pan-India, next generation, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network that is capable of supporting best-in-class services spanning the entire communications value chain, covering over 21,000 cities and towns and over 400,000 villages. Reliance Communications owns and operates the world's largest next generation IP enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising over 280,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable systems in India, USA, Europe, the Middle-East and the Asia-Pacific region.