Despite FreeBasics setback, will keep connecting people in India to web: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Although disappointed with the Indian telecom regulator's rule that ousted Free Basics from the country, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the social networking giant will focus on other aspects of the programme and work with all telcos to bring more people in the South Asian nation onto the Internet.

"We recently had a ruling in India that says there should be no differential pricing for services that even if you are trying to give some basic services for free, that's not going to be allowed. So that's disappointing for the mission of what we are trying to connect people and is a major setback in India," Zuckerberg told media at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
He said that the main learnings for the developments in India were that all countries are different, and what works in one, doesn't work in another. He added that Facebook would continue to roll out Free Basics, previously called Internet.org, in other countries.

Facebook pulled the plug on Free Basics in India - the company's largest market outside the US - about two weeks back, a year after its launch. This followed the telecom regulator barring discriminatory pricing of data services, which included a ban on zero-rated products. This also meant that programmes such as Free Basics, a zero-rated service, would not be allowed in India.

While Facebook has maintained that Free Basics is designed to connect the unconnected poor, critics say it creates a walled garden of only selected websites or apps, thus violating the concept of net neutrality.

"In India, we are going to focus on different programmes, so there are parts of internet.org that we are focused on working on, we want to work with all the operators there," Zuckerberg said.

He said that data prices will only get lower in the country. This, coupled with the expectations that network equipment prices fall from current levels, may make it more economically viable for telcos to roll out networks in areas which they wouldn't earlier.

"So more people will be able to get on internet,' Zuckerberg said, adding that would tie in with Facebook's mission to connect the unconnected billions.

On the argument given by telcos to have same service same rules, the Facebook founder said that as an operator setting up towers, its business is different.

"Consumers don't pay to use Facebook, they pay to use the data," he added.

Mobile operators have been seeking same service same rules for over-the-top players like Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Skype as the applications offer same calling services but are not under any kind of regulation.

Imaged credit: Indiatimes