Rcom claims to have introduced 1 million Indians to the internet through its initiative internet.org

As we all recall, internet.org is the ambitious product of colaboration between Anil Ambani’s Reliance communications and Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. The service which has been a matter of controversy between the companies and the subscribers on the grounds of breaching the core values of net neutrality by giving preferential treatment to certain types of data services, now claims it has successfully introduced 1 million Indians to the world of internet who were previously never online.

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We piloted this for six months in seven circles. And in six months, I am happy to share with you, we brought nearly one million people to come on the internet and experience the internet,” Reliance Communications’ Consumer Business CEO Gurdeep Singh told the company shareholders as reported by financial express.

Internet.org which is being renamed as Free basics claims to be working towards getting people in developing countries like India on to the internet for free through tie-ups with telcom operators. However, concerns have been raised in some quarters about this programme being against the spirit of Net Neutrality — the ability to access a website or internet service of choice. Those registering for the programme can access only select websites.

Speaking at RCOM’s Annual General Meeting here, Singh said the websites chosen as part of the programme are specially created ones which are light on data consumption. “These are internet sites which are not normal sites. These are reduced, truncated, low on bandwidth consumption, almost negligible on the bandwidth consumption, (which is) as good as providing information offline,” he said.