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The Free Basics service aims to offer people who do not have an Internet connection, free access to a handful of websites and a range of services through mobile phones.

Facebook’s Free Basics program was launched with Etisalat Egypt. The service, which has attracted much controversy, provides users with free access to select websites on mobile phones.

“We know that when people have access to the Internet they also get access to jobs, education, healthcare, communication”, said Zuckerberg.

Facebook’s “Free Basics” internet program, which had been providing free basic Internet services to more than three million Egyptians, was shut down on Wednesday reported the Associated Press.

“We’re disappointed that Free Basics will no longer be available in Egypt”, it said.

The program, launched in around three dozen developing countries, offers pared-down web services on mobile phones, along with access to Facebook’s own social network and messaging services, without charge.

India has become a battleground for Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to roll out Facebook’s Free Basics program with the telecom regulator or TRAI confirming that the plan is on hold till the end of January.

New Delhi, Dec.31: The premier Indian Institute Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), have criticised the social networking giant Facebook’s free basics initiative labelling it as “flawed” and “misleading”.

The country is home to Facebook’s second largest market outside the US Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed FB local partner Reliance Communication to halt the service pending further review.

A program that had been giving free basic Internet services to over three million Egyptians was shut down on Wednesday, social media site Facebook said.

One way it’s doing that is through Free Basics, where it provides free access to a select group of Internet services and websites. Since the launch, more than 3 million people have signed up for the service, and 1 million of them received access to the Internet for the very...

On December 12, Trai floated a new consultation paper questioning differential data pricing for content services, although the paper does not specifically mention the term net neutrality.

In a statement, Facebook said, “We hope to “resolve this situation soon” so the program, which it had launched with Etisalat Egypt some two months ago, could be restored”.

Tech giants including Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of ecommerce major Paytm, have petitioned TRAI, the telecom regulator, to claim that differential pricing for Internet access would lead to a “few players like Facebook with its Free Basics platform acting as...

The Internet.org project, which Facebook launched in India in association with Reliance Communications, was recently renamed as Free Basics and offers free access to a set of websites and services with the objective of introducing Internet. Trai has received about 16.5 lakh...