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Zuckerberg stresses role of internet app to connect Africa

By , IT in government editor
Africa , 20 Feb 2015

Zuckerberg stresses role of internet app to connect Africa

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg says his company believes that technology needs to serve everyone.

Speaking to Bloomberg Zuckerberg said the biggest hurdle in connecting people to the internet isn't a technical barrier or affordability, but rather the social challenge where people don't really know why they would use the internet.

Zuckerberg made the comments in line with the goal of the Facebook Internet.org app.

With the launch of the app Facebook aims to bring the internet to the more than two thirds of the world that doesn't have access and gain billions of new users in the process.

The popular social network says it currently has 1.4 billion users globally.

Internet.org app was first launched in southern African nation, Zambia. It has since been rolled out in other African countries like Kenya, Tanzania and most recently Ghana.

The app allows its users access to health, employment and local information services without data charges.

And Facebook has partnered with telcos like Airtel and Tigo to launch the Internet.org app in the various countries.

We believe giving people some free basic services by working with operators and governments, in helping people, he stated.

"When people are connected we can just do some great things," Zuckerberg told Bloomberg.

"We have the opportunities to get access to jobs, education, health, new kinds of communication, and bring people that we care about closer to us. It really makes a big difference," he said.

Studies have shown that if we connected 1 billion more people to the internet a 100 million jobs would be created, according to Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg further told Bloomberg that Internet.org isn't primarily focused on profit and that he has no idea when the service would become a profitable.

"... If a lot of people can afford to pay for data access in some of these places... then it's probably a place where its going to be particularly profitable in the near term," he stated.

Over the long term I do think it would be good for our company if you're looking at a 10 or 20 year time horizon, he told Bloomberg.

Speaking at Mobile World Congress (MWC) last year Zuckerberg said his goal with Internet.org is to connect everyone in the world.

Zuckerberg is planned to be one of the headline speakers at MWC in Barcelona, Spain next month.

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