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V.Balasubramani
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[h=2]Free Basics may not be totally on the Mark but don’t trash it[/h]Chetan Bhagat in The Underage Optimist | Economy, India | TOI
Before I begin this, let me confess I am a bit of a Mark Zuckerberg fan. Who wouldn’t be? Harvard dropout creates internet startup, makes it one of the most valuable companies in the world. Facebook has a billion-and-a-half-plus active subscribers. People are addicted to FB. where they spend hours daily tracking their friends’ lives. Mark changed the world in the coolest way ever. He never forced anyone. Yet, he attracted everyone to his creation. He became a billionaire. Then, he did something even cooler. He pledged 99% of his $45-billion wealth to charity. It’s a staggering amount (around Rs 300,000 crore) to give away. All this, and Mark is only 31. I think, for all practical purposes, he is the coolest person alive.
Why is this important? It is because Mark is backing an initiative called Free Basics (earlier known as internet.org), supposedly to connect more people in the world to the net. Free Basics involves collaboration with existing telecom companies in developing countries, where internet penetration is still low. Telecom companies already connect people with voice services on the phone. Many such people cannot afford data services, so they are cut off from the world of the internet. A quick way to connect them is to offer them free internet, customized to a few chosen sites, which will be designed for lower bandwidth. The telecom companies and site owners will work out between them how the subsidy is absorbed.
Read more at: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatime...not-be-totally-on-the-mark-but-dont-trash-it/
Before I begin this, let me confess I am a bit of a Mark Zuckerberg fan. Who wouldn’t be? Harvard dropout creates internet startup, makes it one of the most valuable companies in the world. Facebook has a billion-and-a-half-plus active subscribers. People are addicted to FB. where they spend hours daily tracking their friends’ lives. Mark changed the world in the coolest way ever. He never forced anyone. Yet, he attracted everyone to his creation. He became a billionaire. Then, he did something even cooler. He pledged 99% of his $45-billion wealth to charity. It’s a staggering amount (around Rs 300,000 crore) to give away. All this, and Mark is only 31. I think, for all practical purposes, he is the coolest person alive.
Why is this important? It is because Mark is backing an initiative called Free Basics (earlier known as internet.org), supposedly to connect more people in the world to the net. Free Basics involves collaboration with existing telecom companies in developing countries, where internet penetration is still low. Telecom companies already connect people with voice services on the phone. Many such people cannot afford data services, so they are cut off from the world of the internet. A quick way to connect them is to offer them free internet, customized to a few chosen sites, which will be designed for lower bandwidth. The telecom companies and site owners will work out between them how the subsidy is absorbed.
Read more at: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatime...not-be-totally-on-the-mark-but-dont-trash-it/
