Facebook app offers Colombians free Internet

Bogota

FACEBOOK Inc on Wednesday launched a mobile phone application that gives Colombian users free access to a handful of online services, broadening chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg's effort to boost Internet usage in developing markets.

Colombia is the first nation in Latin America to receive the new Internet.org service, in partnership with local mobile phone provider Tigo, but the aim is to push the application across the region.

The tools offered by the service provide a foundation Colombians can use to "build their own prosperity", Mr Zuckerberg said at a presentation in Bogota with President Juan Manuel Santos. "By giving people these basic tools for free, you're creating an equal playing field," Mr Zuckerberg said, referring to entrepreneurs who …