(NYT): Facebook and Other Tech Giants Expand Internet Access in Africa
Nearly two years ago, Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, announced an ambitious effort to connect the world’s poorest people to the Internet.
Mr. Zuckerberg’s vision — carried out with partners through an entity called Internet.org — encompasses a range of strategies, including lasers, drones and satellites beaming Internet signals down from the sky.
But the most concrete manifestation of Internet.org has been a mobile phone app — more precisely, a suite of applike services built inside one big Internet.org app — that Facebook has been trying to persuade phone carriers around the globe to offer free to users. Although the exact mix varies by country, the highlight of the app is a stripped-down version of Facebook’s social network and its Messenger instant-messaging service, with other useful services also included, such as Wikipedia, news, weather reports, government and social services, and local apps created by entrepreneurs in each region.