Facebook - the telco's new friend?

[SINGAPORE] Facebook's quest to bring free Internet access to the world has started having ramifications in this region and might eventually shape how telcos make their money.

Its tie-up with the Philippines' Globe Telecom has sparked off a doubling in the number of data and Internet users on the telco's network, Facebook's co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.

SingTel owns about 47 per cent of Globe, which has more than 38 million mobile customers. Even before the Facebook tie-up, Globe saw robust mobile revenue growth last year, attributed to a strong take-up of data services. The carrier also fared the best among SingTel's regional associates in mobile customer growth then.