Facebook, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung became founding partners of internet.org, a global partnership with the goal of making internet access available to the two-third of World’s population, who has no access to internet to date.
The founding members of internet.org will develop joint projects, share knowledge and mobilize industry & governments to bring the world online. The initiative will also include NGOs, academics and experts over time.
Internet.org is influenced by the success of Open Compute Project, an industry-wide initiative that lowered the cost of cloud computing by making more efficient & innovative hardware designs.
In order to achieve its goal of connecting the two-third of World’s population, internet.org will focus on three key challenges in developing countries such as making of affordable access to internet, efficient usage of data and development of sustainable business models.
Making Internet Access Affordable to All
Internet.org will adopt & develop technologies which can make more affordable mobile connectivity and can decrease the cost of data delivery worldwide. Some of the important projects includes the development of lower cost, higher quality smartphones.
Efficient Data Usage
Internet.org will invest in tools that can reduce the amount of data required to use most apps and internet. Potential projects include developing data compression tools, enhancing network capabilities to handle data more efficiently, building systems for efficient data caching and creation of frameworks for apps for reduced data usage.
Development of Sustainable Business Models
The partners will support development of sustainable business models and services for easier access of internet. This includes testing new models that align incentives [for mobile operators, device manufacturers, developers & other businesses] to provide more affordable access and working with operating system providers & other partners to enable more languages on mobile devices.
The Internet.org website was launched on 20th August, 2013 and provided an overview of the mission & goals and a full list of the partners. It will feature interviews with technology leaders and experts along with the latest news on its activities in the coming weeks.
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