Zuckerberg Goes on Charm Offensive for Internet.org

The Facebook chief executive outlined on Monday why he thought Internet.org, a service backed by his company that is intended to provide people in emerging markets with free access to some online applications, would help telecommunications carriers persuade customers to spend more on streaming content to their cellphones.

The service, which is now offered in countries including Paraguay and Zambia, allows individuals to access Facebook and a limited number of other applications free. Carriers hope that this access — often the first time that people have surfed the web — will lead them to spend money on separate data packages.

‘‘Growing the Internet is expensive work,’’ Mr. Zuckerberg, dressed in jeans and a gray T-shirt, told an audience at the Mobile World Congress, an industry conference that has become an annual global event where telecom operators talk shop. ‘‘The only way to accelerate that is to help operators to grow their business.’’

The company is experimenting with a network that would rely primarily on Wi-Fi technology and use cellular towers as a backup.Read more…

Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is making the case in Barcelona, Spain, that the agency’s open Internet rules will not hinder how the web works.Read more…

Follow

The New York Times