Internet: It is better to access some information than no information at all

As EAC countries consider harmonising their data roaming charges and make Internet more affordable across borders, a quiet revolution spearheaded by Facebook to offer free web browsing to the masses is slowly taking shape. There certainly don’t seem to be much fanfare about it. But during the just concluded Transform Africa Summit last month in Kigali, Facebook launched its Internet.org Free Basic Platform in Kinyarwanda. Free Basics by Facebook, as it is now called, enables free mobile access through an app via smartphones and feature phones to a selection of web services such as news, health, education, travel, local jobs, sports, communication, and local government information. Regionally, it is already in Tanzania and Kenya having launched late last year, in October and November, respectively. Other countries in Africa include Zambia, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and South Africa. Facebook has entered into zero-rating deals with cellphone operators – Airtel in Kenya and Rwanda, and Tigo in Tanzania – to provide the Internet services at no cost to hard-to-reach and underserved locations. The long-term plan is to beam Internet connectivity to more than 14 countries across West, East and Southern Africa via satellite currently under construction and scheduled to launch in 2016. In July this year, Facebook unveiled a new custom drone it is building for the same purpose. However, with only just over 60 services on offer in the 19 countries globally where free basic services are available, Internet.org is limited. It is a far cry from access of information on anything in the limitless realm of content available on the web that the EAC countries are considering harmonising data roaming charges. Limitless access of data on the web costs money in terms of the data bundles that one must buy. And it is often worth it, as the Internet presents any number of possibilities for self-development with the new ideas and creativity it affords. But the truth is vast swathes of Africa are hard-to-reach and underserved for a raft of reasons – whether because service plans are too expensive, content isn’t available in the local language, or mobile networks are few and far between. This means that even if data charges come down, a significant portion of the population will still not benefit. Therefore, despite the limited range of services on offer on Free Basics, it’s my take that it is arguably better to have “something” than “nothing”. And, why not, if Free Basics has the potential to enrich humanity with ideas and creativity from those who, otherwise, cannot access, let alone afford Internet bundles? Admittedly, however, there are those who disagree, raising some very pertinent issues. An open letter in May this year to Facebook by a mix of organizations, some from Kenya and Uganda, charged that “Internet.org violates the principles of net neutrality, threatening freedom of expression, equality of opportunity, security, privacy and innovation.” Net neutrality demands that the internet be maintained as an open platform on which network providers treat all content, applications and services equally, without discrimination. Thus the core concern is that zero-rating not only endangers freedom of expression and equality of opportunity by letting service providers decide which Internet services will be privileged over others, but acts as a “walled garden” in which some services are favored over others: That it misleadingly labels zero-rated services the “Internet,” when in fact users only receive access to a tiny portion of it. Well, so what? Is it better we exclude the underserved? This column has previously argued for net neutrality. And to my mind it is fine to raise these concerns, as they also raise the threshold and define the parameters that must be met to safeguard our rights to unfettered access to information. It is all to the same end the EAC countries are harmonising their data roaming charges, as Free Basics by Facebook and other initiatives such Google’s Project Loon which aims to offer free internet using hot air balloons. And, by the same token if the concept of “free-to-air” has worked for radio and TV through advertising and sponsorship, why not for the Internet?

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Internet: It is better to access some information than no information at all