Mark Zuckerberg had a dream: connect to the Internet two-thirds of the world’s population who do not have access. According to the CEO of Facebook, it is neither more nor less than a “human right” and it is “the greatest challenge of our generation.” To achieve its objective, the young billionaire mounted project “internet.org”, launched last week, an industrial consortium comprising, besides the social network, six major international companies in the high-tech: Ericsson, MediaTek, Opera, Samsung, Nokia and Qualcomm. They want to share their intellectual and financial resources to improve global access to the Internet, the effectiveness of bandwidth by reducing the consumption of data and changing business models in the sector -. Their three ambitions
Immediately Zuckerberg missionary was mocked for his cynicism. Want to connect more people to the Internet, it is mainly want expand the customer base of Facebook, to advance the course of action of the social network and, in passing, the personal wealth of its founder. Also be noted that the project “internet.org” does not associate any of the current major rival Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter …
In an interview with Wired magazine , published Monday, August 26, “Zuck” responds to this accusation. Of course, he concedes, Facebook “theoretically benefit from this initiative.” But, he adds, “this criticism is a little crazy.’s Billion people already use Facebook have much, much more money than the other 6 billion combined. If we just wanted to make money, best strategy would be to focus on developed countries and people who are already using Facebook, advancing their commitment rather than trying to attract new users. (…) This investment, I want to do because think it It’s a good thing for the world. “
Moving from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy
In a beautiful burst of utopia and bombast, which we are not obliged to join the Facebook CEO explains his vision. “The story of the century is that of a transition from an industrial economy based on resources, a knowledge economy,” he says. The issue is not, according to him, the possession of physical resources, such as oil, which it sees as a “zero sum game”, but the sharing of information, where everyone is a winner . “If you know something, then you can share – and the world becomes richer,” Zuckerberg strikes. Hence the need to connect 5 billion people who do not have Internet access today.
The former Harvard student who has clearly not afraid shortcuts goes further. The realization of his ambition is, for him, the best way to end global inequality, “the 500 million richest people have a lot more money than the other six billion can solve it together. connecting everyone to the internet and entering the knowledge economy. ” However, he says be aware that this does not happen a magic wand, “the Industrial Revolution did not take place in a decade …”Confrontation with telecom operators
Beyond good intentions uttered is how Zuckerberg expects to reach its goal is interesting. The key point is not, according to him, the cost of acquiring a smartphone but the data access cost. In this, the CEO of Facebook is fitting with telecom operators around the world, who understood they would do it again in recent months their margins through the explosion of data . However, Zuckerberg outlines a novel idea: since data access is expensive, try, us players internet sector produce services consume less data! “This is a critical issue for billions of people who do not have access to the Internet,” he says. So much for the business model telcos …
None of them is also part of the consortium behind the project “internet.org”. It is not a coincidence. Behind the big issues with naivety and / or bad faith by Zuckerberg, lies the major problem that will arise in the coming years: that provide internet access? The radio frequencies will they open by governments to new players? While Google is testing solutions more or less folk in the United States and Africa and telcos are delinquent on their home markets, Facebook has officially, with “internet.org ‘, placing himself in the race, with industrial partners weight, via a project generous appearance. Because, of course, what is good for the world is good for Facebook. Unless it is the reverse.
