Telecel Zimbabwe has launched a promotion to allow subscribers access Facebook Zero, the Facebook mobile web-site optimised for speed with zero data charges.
Whether with or without airtime, the subscribers will acces the service for free via zero.facebook.com, or 0.facebook.com to be able to do just about anything as if they were on desktop or mobile but for free unless browse images, video clips and third party sites which carry an 11 cents per megabyte cost or aaccording to their data bundles.
According to Telecel Zimbabwe marketing director Octivius Kahiya,“Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites in the world, used by almost 1.2 billion people. Facebook Zero makes it possible to stay in touch with Facebook friends at no cost at all. Facebook Zero is able to do this by omitting more data intensive content such as photos and videos. It gives free and fast access via text only.”
“Subscribers only pay data charges if they want to view photos or videos or when they leave the free site to browse other sites. If they seek to view material for which they will be charged, a notification message will appear to confirm that they will be charged,” he said.
Though not supported on browsers or devices that proxy traffic, including Blackberry and Nokia Ovi browsers, users can download the free Opera Mini browser to access the service. Facebook Zero is the first in the country and is latest offering from Telecel giving added value to its subscribers. Recently, Telecel launched its new branded prepaid platform called Telecel Go to mkae cross-networking calling affordable.
Last month, Millicom’s Tigo Tanzania partnered with Facebook to launch free access to the social network on their mobile handsets and also launched Facebook in Kiswahili.