Cell C confirmed as Facebook’s partner in providing free internet service in SA

IT WAS only a matter of time before Facebook launched its free internet service in South Africa‚ but it can now be confirmed that its launch partner for the service will be Cell C‚ the country’s third-largest mobile operator.

The service‚ aimed primarily at emerging markets‚ was first announced as far back as 2013 and has already been introduced in a number of other African countries‚ including Tanzania‚ Kenya and Ghana.

The company already provides free access to WhatsApp for people on its network.

As part of the deal‚ Facebook use will be free to all of Cell C’s existing post-paid contract‚ top up‚ and pre-paid customers from July 1. This level of access will continue for a two-month promotional period.

“Customers will be able to use Facebook Messenger‚ post comments and pictures‚ view and share posts and pictures‚ and view news feeds and profiles at no charge‚” the site quotes the operator as saying.

Meanwhile‚ from September‚ users will be able to access Facebook using the Internet.org app for a period of 12 months.

During that period‚ websites aligned to the app will be freely available to Cell C customers. These include:

ý Education: BeSmart‚ LoveWords‚ FunDza‚ Scholars4Dev‚ Wattpad‚ WorldReader‚ D-Siders;

ý Finance and jobs: Careers24‚ DAI‚ SmartBusiness‚ Money Matters;

ý Information: Bing‚ Cell C‚ WikiHow‚ Wikipedia;

ý News: BBC News‚ News24‚ SuperSport; and

ý Women: Intel She Will Connect‚ Girl Effect‚ iLearn.

While Internet.org has been widely lauded‚ some mobile operators say they see no reason why they should give away their network capacity to Facebook for free.