Sci-fi
solutions or making friends one at a time? Google and Facebook want
more people online, searching around and clicking on ads. And they are
finding new ways to make it happen — from selling smartphone data plans,
to using solar-powered drone aircraft as floating cell towers to
partnering with telecom providers in the developing world to get people
hooked on apps.
The
two Internet giants gave updates on their efforts at the Mobile World
Congress wireless show in Barcelona on Monday. And while Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg and Google Vice President Sundar Pichai say they might
like to collaborate more, they are taking very different approaches to
getting the world connected.
Internet.org
is Facebook’s fledgling effort to create new users in countries with
little or low Internet use. Zuckerberg said Monday that it has launched
apps with basic free services in six countries: Zambia, Ghana, Kenya,
Tanzania, Colombia and most recently, India. Zuckerberg said initial
feedback from telecom partners in those countries has been positive, and
called the app an “onramp” for paid services.
“Even
if they have never used Internet in their life, they have basic
services they can use— communication, health, education and jobs— and
that basically serves as an onramp so people can learn why they would
want to pay for data,” Zuckerberg said. “And we are finding that is
growing paid subscribers and overall subscribers of the Internet.”
The
app is customized for each country and telecom operator so as to lure
new users while not hurting the telecoms’ already existing base of
customers by offering free versions of services users already pay for.
That is the reason why Internet.org does not include the WhatsApp
messaging service, bought by Facebook last year.
Mario
Zanotti, Senior Vice President of Operations at Millicom, said that
Internet.org was working well for his company’s business in Paraguay.
“Internet is an abstract concept. We need to bring it down to earth,” he said.
Earlier,
Pichai announced Google’s plans to start testing the use of
solar-powered drone aircraft as “floating cell towers” that could bring
coverage to remote areas or even disaster zones. He also said that
Google’s “Project Loon” — which uses high-altitude air balloons to
provide coverage for rural areas — had advanced to the point that the
balloons are expected to be ready in two years.
“The
model is really beginning to work, so we have started large-scale
testing,” he said. “You can imagine a constellation of balloons and
planes together, which we can stitch together to create a mesh of
floating cell towers. That’s what we trying to do.
“We will be flying these planes out in the coming few months. That’s the next big step for us.”
While
both executives said they would be willing to work more together—
Internet.org, for example, includes Google Search— they also made sure
to underscore their differences.
“No
one company can bring connectability at scale for 4 billion people, and
we are happy to work with them to provide our services on Internet.org,
so that’s exciting for me,” Pichai said. “Having said that, it’s
complementary, but what we are trying to do is different. We are trying
to provide the actual backbone, the physical connectability at scale
across the globe, so it is different.”
Facebook
is also experimenting with drones and satellites, however Zuckerberg
said that the focus on high-tech fixes is “sexy” but not as important as
helping local telecom operators grow their businesses.
Posted by : Gizmeon
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