Kalia_Test Posted March 8, 2015 Posted March 8, 2015 Good old telcos vs Social media link Key points Taking on social networking giant Facebook’s ambitious ‘free internet’ plans, telecom major Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Mittal has said the companies should do ‘philanthropy’ if they stop charging for mobile internet. Facebook has launched an ‘internet.org’ initiative under which users can access internet free of charge for select websites if they come through a partner telecom operator. Telecom companies say they invest billions of dollars in spectrum, network and other operations, but they argue that internet-based entities offering pseudo-telecom services are piggy-backing on the mobile operators’ networks without bearing much investments on their own. At the same event here, UK-based telecom giant Vodafone’s global CEO Vittorio Colao reportedly said about Facebook’s free-of-cost internet plan that “it is almost like Zuckerberg does philanthropy, but with my money. :hysterical:” In December, Airtel had announced separate charges for Internet based calling services but withdrew it after an outcry on social media. “The rate that we announced was exactly the same rate as a voice call. If you do one minute VoIP (internet based calls) in kilobyte terms it would be exactly the same as voice call. It was exactly the same as one minute call,” Mittal said.
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