Free Internet in India: After Facebook, Alibaba wants to offer low-cost to free data

Now, Alibaba wants to jump onto the bandwagon, and just like Facebook, wants to offer free Internet to lndian audiences by teaming up with telcos.

According to a report by Business Insider, Alibaba's UCWeb (makers of the popular UCBrowser) is in talks with telecom and Wi-Fi providers to bring free Internet to India. "We are trying to offer lower cost data to users and better connectivity, even free of cost connectivity. Wi-Fi providers and other players can be potentials and we are in talk," a spokesperson told the news site.

Facebook has attempted teaming up with telcos, and its Free Basics was entangled in the net neutrality issue. Currently, TRAI is in the process of defining net neutrality, and going by the current rules, it will not allow connecting content usage with telcos. This means, if Alibaba plans to push its own content, it may have a reason to worry.

Alibaba is reportedly looking to hire 30,000 bloggers and other content developers and also has compensation plans for writers and contributors. Free and cheap have become the buzzwords in the telecom sector.

While all the efforts are appreciated, we need to work at building a stronger infrastructure and awareness, along with slashed data prices. Connecting a billion users will require private and government bodies to work more closely at taking mobile connectivity to the remotest areas.

• Free data
• Alibaba