Facebook to Offer South African Cell C Users Free Web Access

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Facebook will offer customers of Cell C Pty Ltd. access to its free application Internet.org in South Africa as the social-networking service seeks to add users in the continent’s most developed economy. The service will allow Cell C users to see Facebook and about 30 websites offering information about healthcare and jobs without being charged for data, said Markku Makelainen, Facebook’s director of global operator partnerships. It will be available from July.

“It’s a method for users who want to try out free basic services on the Internet, they can do it without any cost and then they can basically move up the ladder to paid services,” Makelainen said at Cell C’s Johannesburg headquarters. “We want to take away the fear of use. Less than half of the population is connected.” Customers of Cell C, the third-largest South African wireless carrier, will have free data access to the full version of Facebook’s application for two months before downgrading access to a more basic version of the service.


Facebook to Offer South African Cell C Users Free Web Access