Facebook, mobile internet browsing now free

MANILA, Philippines–Filipinos with a Smart SIM card-powered smartphone may now browse 24 websites, including INQUIRER.net, free of data charges.

This as Smart Communications, through Talk ‘N Text (TNT), launched a partnership with Facebook in a bid to bring free information to all Filipinos via Internet.org.

Internet.org is a Facebook-led initiative which aims to provide internet connectivity to two-thirds of the world that remains “disconnected.” Currently, the Internet.org application is available in Colombia, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, India, Zambia, and the Philippines, with the Philippines being the first Southeast Asian country to have the Internet.org app.

“We’re one step closer to connecting the world as we launched Internet.org in the Philippines today,” Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said through a post on his official Facebook account on Wednesday. “Now everyone in the country can have free access to internet services for health, education, jobs, and communication on the Smart network.”

READ: Zuckerberg hails launch of Internet.org in PH

Meanwhile, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said, “When people are connected, they get access to new opportunities and we all benefit from their contributions,” in her own Facebook post on Wednesday.

Mass market

To access online content for free, TNT, Smart, and Sun subscribers will simply have to download the Internet.org app via Google Play or text INTERNET to 9999 for non-android users.

Asked what made Smart pursue the partnership with Facebook, Smart head of Public Affairs Ramon Isberto said “It’s in our DNA. Smart was instrumental in making mobile phones available to the mass market. We essentially want to do the same thing for the Internet.”