Associated Press report say that Egypt has decided to shut down the free internet service of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), thereby becoming the second country to do so after India. Free Basics from Face book’s Internet.org has been launched to make internet access available in the developing nations. The open system also offers free access to many non-Facebook sites, which has irked the internet activists, and regulators who think that it is a violation of the net neutrality principle.
Facebook has said that it is disappointed that the service will no longer be available in Egypt.
They fear that it can lead to ‘walled garden’ or prioritization of some sites. The free program that was working in cooperation with a cell phone company from Egypt was providing internet access to around three million Egyptians and was abruptly closed down. The government is yet to give any reason for the sudden suspension however when a person called up the Free Basics officials in Egypt he was told that the service that allowed free access only to the text-version have been ordered to close.
Shutdown due to permit expiry
Reuter reports that an Egyptian telecommunication official has said that the cell phone company, Etisalat, that served as the carrier for the free service program was granted a permit for two months, which expired causing the immediate shutdown. According to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Free Basics is not working against net neutrality and just because the service does not charge money for the various web services and site access it provides, it cannot be considered a violation of open internet rules. He further said that people are falsely claiming that Free Basics will prioritize particular sites and give people lesser choice. According to him, the new free feature is an open platform that can work in partnership with any telco and will enable any developer to extend his services free of cost to different people.
Surprisingly out of the three million who gained free access through this program, one million Egyptians accessed the internet for the first time.
