Last but not least: India bans Facebook's free internet service
For months, Facebook had been trying to save its free internet access program in India through a large-scale campaign. However, telecommunications regulators banned any exceptions for individual online services.
Indian authorities have put a stop to the Facebook project for free access to some online services. The regulators generally prohibited telecom providers from making exceptions for individual services. This also affected Facebook's "Free Basics" offer, which provided access to some education, health and job services in addition to the world's largest online network. Other network services were not accessible via "Free Basic".
On Monday, the industry regulator TRAI referred to strict implementation of the rules on so-called net neutrality, according to which all data in the networks must be treated equally.
It is a painful defeat for Facebook - the US company had run a massive PR campaign in the country in recent weeks in view of the impending ban and called on users to support "Free Basics".
The service is part of the Internet.org initiative launched by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, which aims to bring billions of people online. Among other things, drones with antennas are to be used in remote areas.
Facebook is dependent on new internet users from developing and emerging countries in order to continue its rapid growth. He hopes to have five billion members by 2030, Zuckerberg said at a recent appearance. The network currently has around 1.6 billion users. (SDA/uma)
