Facebook extends developing nations web service

Facebook will expand its year-old initiative to provide free mobile Internet services in developing countries, the company said on Sunday.

Internet.org provides a suite of web services for customers in developing nations to use on their phones without paying charges associated with mobile data. The services, included in an Internet.org application, include limited versions of Facebook’s social network and messaging platform.

{mosads}On Sunday, the company said it wanted to expand the number of providers who offer the application. Facebook said Sunday it has “made it easier for any mobile operator to turn on Internet.org in new countries through a partner portal that includes technical tools and best practices, improving the process to offer free basic services to the unconnected.”

“We’ve made it easier for any mobile operator to turn on Internet.org in new countries through a partner portal that includes technical tools and best practices, improving the process to offer free basic services to the unconnected,” the company said in the Sunday blog post.

The initiative to expand the program will be formally announced at a conference of developers in Africa on Monday, The New York Times reported.

To date, the company has worked with wireless providers in 17 countries to the services.

The company says that Internet.org is a way to bring more people around the world online, but critics contend that it is simply a tool to introduce more of the world to Facebook’s products.

They also say that the program essentially provides poor people around the world with a limited version of the Internet.

“The economic boom and revolution in connectivity that the Internet created in developed countries needs to be shared equally with the next three billion people. Internet.org’s model  — giving users a taste of connectivity before prompting them to purchase pricey data plans  — fails to acknowledge the economic reality for millions of people who can’t afford those plans,” a group of activists said in a May letter.

The Times reported that more than nine million people who have used the application provided by Internet.org have become regular users of the Internet.