After announcing that it will partner with Facebook’s Internet.org to offer free internet acess to essential websites in the country, Airtel has today said the initiative is live, the partnership with Facebook to offer the Internet.org app to its pre-paid and post-paid customers in Kenya and a set of locally relevant basic internet services free of charge.
The partnership is expected to see more Kenyans come online and access a suite of basic internet services in health, education, communication, finance, jobs and local information at no cost.
According to Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi said, “We are delighted to partner with Facebook to make essential internet services available to our customers. We believe that this partnership will go a long way in providing Kenyans with information that will help them create new opportunities and improve their lives. Through this, we will be one step closer to connecting thousands of people without internet access.”
Airtel customers now have free access to: AccuWeather; BBC News; BBC Swahili; BabyCenter & MAMA; BrighterMonday; Daily Nation; Ebola Information; Facebook; Facts for Life; Girl Effect; Jamii Forums; Messenger; OLX; Scholars4Dev; SuperSport; Toto Health; Wattpad; Wikipedia.
The partnership gives Airtel customers the freedom to access these basic services by visiting www.internet.orgor downloading the Internet.org app in the Google Play Store. Normal data charges will only apply when a user browses outside the set of free basic services.
Chris Daniels, Vice President of Product for Internet.org at Facebook said, “Following our great success with the Internet.org app in Zambia, Facebook is excited to continue its partnership with Airtel to bring the Internet.org app to its customers in Kenya. We can make a big impact by making the internet accessible through this set of free basic services, which we hope will ultimately lead to more people coming online.”
