Airtel Zambia subscribers are the first in the world to have access to Facebook’s Internet.org app.

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

Services that Airtel Zambia subscribers are planned to have free access to include AccuWeather, eZeLibrary, Facebook, Facts for Life, Google Search, Go Zambia Jobs, Kokoliko, MAMA (Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action), Facebook Messenger, Wikipedia, WRAPP (Women’s Rights App) and Zambia uReport.

“The Internet.org app will be available first to Airtel subscribers in Zambia and we’ll continue to improve the experience and roll it out to other parts of the world,” says Guy Rosen, a Facebook product management director in a statement.

"Airtel customers in Zambia can access these services in the Internet.org Android app, at www.internet.org, or within the Facebook for Android app," his statement adds.

Facebook has embarked on its ‘Internet.org’ to connect the two-thirds of the globe that does not have internet access.

And the social network says it hopes its Internet.org app will help make online services more accessible across the globe.

“Over 85% of the world’s population lives in areas with existing cellular coverage, yet only about 30% of the total population accesses the internet,” says Rosen in his statement.

“Affordability and awareness are significant barriers to internet adoption for many and today we are introducing the Internet.org app to make the internet accessible to more people by providing a set of free basic services.

“By providing free basic services via the app, we hope to bring more people online and help them discover valuable services they might not have otherwise,” says Rosen.

It’s not the first time that Facebook has targeted Africa with free services.

In April this year, Millicom owned Tigo Tanzania announced that its subscribers are getting free access to the Facebook ‘Messenger’ application on their handsets.

Facebook’s announcement of the free Internet.org app in Zambia also comes as usage of the social network has been growing strongly in parts of the continent.

Last year, research firm World Wide Worx and social media monitoring company Fuseware released statistics suggesting Facebook has grown to over 9.4 million active users in South Africa. Along with WhatsApp, which has over 10 million users in South Africa according to World Wide Worx, Facebook is regarded as among the country’s most used social networking site. WhatsApp has also been bought by Facebook.

On Wednesday, Facebook owned Instagram also announced that it has chosen South Africa, along with Singapore and New Zealand, as one of the first countries in the world to get its Snapchat-like image messaging app ‘Bolt’.