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Airtel Partners With Wikimedia Foundation to Bring Free Access to Wikipedia
to 70 Million People in 17 Countries
Partnership will introduce innovative ways to access Wikipedia on mobile
devices in Sub-Saharan Africa
* Airtel customers to access multilingual content on Wikipedia mobile site
free of data charges
* First-of-its-kind pilot initiative in Africa will provide free access to
Wikipedia via text messages (SMS and USSD)
Nairobi, Kenya and San Francisco, California, October 24, 2013 -- Airtel,
and the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia, today
announced a strategic partnership to provide Airtel's customers access to
the knowledge and information available on Wikipedia through their mobile
phones free of data charges.
This partnership is part of the Wikimedia Foundation's Wikipedia Zero
program, which focuses on reaching the billions of people around the world
whose primary opportunity to access the internet is via a mobile device.
The partnership between Airtel and the Wikimedia Foundation will help
provide Wikipedia to 70 million new users in the region, starting in Kenya.
Airtel customers with Internet-enabled handsets can now access the
Wikipedia mobile site on their mobile browsers without incurring data
charges by going to
m.wikipedia.org
For customers who do not have Internet-enabled handsets, Airtel will offer
Wikipedia by text message as a pilot program in Kenya. This unique service
will allow customers to search Wikipedia using a plain text menu, without
the need for a mobile browser. The service, available for GSM subscribers,
utilizes USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) technology and
allows users to dial *515# to search Wikipedia and receive article
summaries via SMS.
"We are thrilled that Airtel has joined us in removing two major barriers
to accessing Wikipedia on mobile phones. Not only are we making it freely
available on the mobile web but we are are also launching our first
Wikipedia via text service that will allow people without data enabled
phones to access Wikipedia," said Kul Takanao Wadhwa, Head of Mobile,
Wikimedia Foundation. "Improving access to the Wikimedia projects in
Sub-Saharan Africa is a strategic priority for the Wikimedia Foundation and
this partnership is another step forward in our mission to enable everyone
on the planet to access free knowledge."
Andre Beyers, Chief Marketing Officer, Airtel Africa said "Airtel is
committed to using its infrastructure to expand knowledge across the
countries that it operates in. Due to the fact that most of the population
has access to a cell phone, it is the best way to reach out and educate our
communities. We will offer this service free of charge to our customers to
enable access to all."
About Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with
operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New
Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers
globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings
include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line
services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services
including national & international long distance services to carriers. In
the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile
commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 276 million customers across its
operations at the end of August 2013. To learn more, please visit:
www.airtel.com.
Airtel Africa media contact
Michael Okwiri
Vice President
Corporate Communications
Airtel Africa (Nairobi, Kenya)
Email: michael.okwiri(a)airtel.com
About the Wikimedia Foundation
http://wikimediafoundation.org
http://blog.wikimedia.org
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix,
Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation
receive 500 million unique visitors per month, making them the fifth-most
popular web property world-wide (comScore, August 2013). Available in 287
languages, Wikipedia contains more than 29 million articles contributed by
a global volunteer community of roughly 80,000 people. Based in San
Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3)
charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants.
Wikimedia Foundation media contact
Matthew Roth
Communications
+1 415-839-6885 ext 6635 (San Francisco, California)
mroth(a)wikimedia.org
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