Facebook’s free internet initiative is working

Internet.org, the Facebook-led initiative to provide select apps and services to mobile phone users in emerging markets for free, recently passed 800,000 subscribers in India. Along with local telecom companies there, the service provides access to around 30 websites and services without charging the user for the mobile data necessary to use those services, which…

BSNL to buy internet bandwidth from Bangladesh govt firm

State-run telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will sign its first agreement outside India to buy bandwidth from Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company to provide internet services in the northeast. It is also exploring South Africa for expansion, and may pick up equity stakes in one of the country’s telecom service providers. Bangladesh Submarine Cable…

Youngsters host free WiFi in public places

Inspired by need for free internet access to younger generation, a group of young Indoreans started ‘IM Free Wi-Fi’ to provide WiFi facility for free in public places. Determined to make the city a free Wi-Fi zone, seven college pass-out students started working on this project in 2014 and tested it in various areas in…