Monday 28 September 2015

176. 15 Things You Need to Know about Internet.org

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The advent of internet has changed the lives of many people drastically. However, two-third of the world still does not have an internet connection. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Internet.org is a non-profit organization aimed at bringing internet to the whole world at the most affordable rates.

Here are 15 good-to-know facts about Internet.org:

1. A Facebook-led initiative, internet.org aims to bring together local communities, tech leaders and non-profit organizations to provide interent access to 2/3rd of the world population that lives without an internet connection.

2. The non-profit organization is a partnership between Facebook and leading mobile phone companies of the world. Few prominent names in the list include MediaTek, Samsung, Opera Software, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Microsoft and Reliance.

3. Internet.org was officially launched onn 20th August, 2013 and none other than Mark Zuckerberg is the mastermind behind this interesting project.

4. The internet.org app was made available to Zambia in July 2014, Tanzania in October 2014 and Kenya in November 2014. In January 2015, the app was released in Colombia and Ghana (in collaboration with Airtel). The latest app launch took place in India on 10th February 2015 with Reliance Communications as the network partner.

5. Apart from making internet accessible globally, internet.org has revealed many new projects. One among them is the SocialEDU project in association with AirTel and Nokia; and another project partnering with Unilever in India. In collaboration with Ericsson, a brand new internet.org Innovation Lab is also being set up.

6. The target of this organization is to provide internet access to the common man at affordable prices. The cost of delivering data would be reduced so that more number of people have the opportunity of availing the service in every nook and corner of the world.

7. The initiative will help create new business models so that more and more people can go online. Device manufacturers, mobile operators and developers need to work hand in hand to connect billions of people to the world of internet.

8. Today, the efficiency of transmitting data is very important. And therefore correct bandwidth needs to be provided to meet the needs of the people. Global partners of internet.org will invest and work on new tools and techniques to enhance the efficiency of the internet.

9. There are many barriers to internet reaching the common man. Some of them include expensive service plans, expensive devices, weak mobile networks, unavailability of content in local languages, limited and expensive power sources and large data handling problems. The goal of internet.org is to eliminate these barriers and make internet available to everyone so that people understand its value and make the best use of it.

10. New Delhi, India hosted the first internet.org summit on October 9 -10, 2014. The summit brought together industry leaders, experts and officials from eminent internet carriers and related businesses so that they understand the real internet needs in India.

11. In India, Reliance Communications has secured an official collaboration with internet.org. Through the app, it will be possible to access 38 websites free of cost. The initiative is launched in 6 states in the country and will expand soon. Websites related to sports, news, local government information, travel, local jobs etc are featured.

12. For accessing internet.org app from your Android smartphone, an Opera Mini Mobile web browser needs to be used. For internet.org, the Android App UC browser is needed. However, the app is not available for iOS or Windows phones as of now.

13. As per claims made by internet.org, more than 140 million new jobs can be created with better internet connectivity. This will help in bringing almost 160 million people out of poverty in the developing nations. Due to better connectivity, it is projected that productivity will increase by almost 25%.

14. Small scale family farmers can gain immensely from improved internet connectivity as they can access useful information that will help in cultivation. Rural Europe is expected to gain highly in the farming sector and other similar areas.

15. In Africa only 16% of the people use internet. With projects such as the internet.org and Safaricom, attempts are being made to provide free Wi-Fi in public transport, increasing potential internet users rapidly.

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