Last Updated on May 1, 2016
Facebook in partnership with Airtel earlier announced the launch of free internet access service across 17 African countries by March 2016. “Our intention is to help the people in Africa to have access to relevant basic services” said in a statement by Chris Daniel, internet.org.
In my earlier post, i wrote about Facebook Flex which is a part of Airtel Facebook Freebasics. Freebasics allows you to stay connected, communicate with friends, visit popular websites at no cost i.e zero data. It is brought to us by Facebook and Airtel onetouch. This means that you could stay online visiting tons of popular websites with free data when you are only on Airtel.
How does Freebasics works?
Whenever you access websites through Freebasics, Facebook processes your mobile data through its server in other to know the carrier of connection (MTN, AIRTEL,ETISALAT) which has been provided to them by Airtel Onetouch. Facebook may also use your Airtel number to send you SMS notifications and more. You might get bounced back if your network carrier is not Airtel.
Freebasics is really a great advancement from Facebook. Unlike Facebook Flex where you can connect to facebook without photos shared by your friends but in Freebasics.com, listed websites have enabled images. When you visit freebasics.com, you select from its various categories like Communication, Learning, Sports & Entertainment, News & Weather and many more. These categories also package some popular useful websites.
As a regular internet user who only visits few websites before the day runs down will find Freebasics more helpful. When you have popular websites like Facebook, AccuWeather, BabyCenter, BBC News, Bing search engine, Goal.com, Jobberman, Nairaland, Pass.ng, OLX, SuperSport, WikiPedia and so many just for free then i wonder why you should not appreciate the kind gestures by Facebook and Airtel. With these free internet access to these websites, i think buying additional data might be a bit wasteful for regular internet guys.
Freebasics mobile app is also available on Google Play Store. I have tried visiting freebasics.com with Opera browser and Chrome on my Android phone. I suggest that you should give it a try today. At least some Nigerians appreciate free stuffs and this is a grand welcome.
Image TheVerge
