Google Free Zone

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Google Free Zone is an initiative undertaken by the Internet company Google in collaboration with mobile phone-based Internet providers, whereby the providers waive data (bandwidth) charges (also known as zero-rate) for accessing select Google products such as Google Search, Gmail, and Google+.[1]

History

  • November 2012: Google Free Zone was announced by Google on November 8, 2012, with a launch in the Philippines in partnership with Globe Telecom, with the experimental round scheduled to run until March 31, 2013.[2][3][4] Telkom Mobile in South Africa, then branded as 8ta, offered Google Free Zone 3 from 13 November 2012 but discontinued the service on 31 May 2013.[5]
  • April 2013: launch in Sri Lanka on the Dialog mobile network.[6]
  • June 2013: Google launched Google Free Zone in India in partnership with mobile Internet provider Airtel,[7][8][9][10] and in Thailand on the AIS network.
  • December 2013: Airtel extended Google Free Zone to its services in Nigeria.[11]
  • March 2014: it was suggested that Safaricom in Kenya had launched Free Zone.[12]

Reception and impact

A number of Internet commentators viewed Google Free Zone as both inspired by and a potential competitor to Facebook Zero.[13][14][15][16]

The Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones of Chile ruled that Zero-rating services like Wikipedia Zero, Facebook Zero, and Google Free Zone, that subsidize mobile data usage, violate net neutrality laws and had to end the practice by June 1, 2014.[17][18]

See also

References

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