[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] [PRESS RELEASE] Wikimedia Foundation announces Wikipedia Zero partnership with Telenor in Myanmar

[Matthew Roth]

(This press release is also available online here:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Telenor_Wikipedia_Zero_extension_Myanmar
)

Myanmar to get access to the world's knowledge through Wikipedia Zero

(Fornebu, Norway, and San Francisco, California)  7 November 2013 --
Telenor Group and the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, today
announced Myanmar as the latest country to be included in their existing
agreement to bring Wikipedia Zero to Telenor customers in Asia and Europe.
Telenor is supporting the country's ambition of connecting its 60 million
people. Through this agreement, Telenor's future subscribers in Myanmar
will be able to access Wikipedia's vast knowledge base free of mobile data
traffic charges when Telenor begins services in the country.

"The Wikimedia Foundation imagines a world in which every single person has
free access to the sum of human knowledge. By working with Telenor, we are
able to put this knowledge in the hands of the masses, helping to close the
knowledge gap between developed and developing countries. Today's
announcement will pave the way for Telenor to offer all the knowledge that
comes with Wikipedia Zero to its customers in Myanmar," said Carolynne
Schloeder, Director of Mobile Programs at the Wikimedia Foundation.

The partnership between Telenor and the Wikimedia Foundation was
established in February 2012, and was founded on a shared commitment to
bring Wikipedia to Telenor customers free of data charges. The initiative
is part of the Wikimedia Foundation's mobile strategy, which focuses on
reaching the billions of people around the world whose primary opportunity
to access the Internet is via a mobile device. Following the agreement,
special versions of Wikipedia for mobile phones were launched in Thailand,
Malaysia and Montenegro. In addition, Telenor aims to launch Wikipedia Zero
in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Serbia in 2014.

"Access to high quality telecommunications tools and affordable services
plays a substantial role in empowering societies. To Telenor, this
partnership enables us to provide a strong support to local communities by
promoting the exchange and sharing of open knowledge. Offering Wikipedia
free of traffic charges also helps introduce internet to mobile users,
often for the first time. I am very satisfied that our cooperation with the
Wikimedia Foundation will now include Myanmar," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas,
President and CEO of Telenor Group.

On 27 June 2013 Telenor was announced as one of the successful applicants
for a telecommunications license in Myanmar. Following the process
described in the auction guidelines, the company is now in discussions with
the Myanmar authorities regarding the final terms and conditions of the
license agreement. Telenor aims to launch services in Myanmar within eight
months after the final license agreement is signed.

The extension of this partnership was celebrated today in Oslo when Jimmy
Wales, the founder
of Wikipedia, met with Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor
Group, and Rolv-Erik Spilling, Head of Telenor Digital, to participate in
an event announcing the expansion of service. Jimmy Wales was also a
keynote speaker at the "Digital Winners" conference hosted today by Telenor
Digital at Telenor Headquarters, where he shared his views on crowdsourcing
for the common good.

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 worldwide (comScore, September 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 Press Contact:
Matthew Roth
Communications
+1 415-839-6885 ext 6635 (San Francisco)
mroth at wikimedia.org
About Telenor Group

Telenor Group is an international provider of tele, data and media
communication services. Telenor Group has mobile operations in 12 markets
in the Nordic region, Central and Eastern Europe and in Asia, as well as a
voting stake of 42.95 per cent (economic stake 33 per cent) in VimpelCom
Ltd., operating in 17 markets. Headquartered in Norway, Telenor Group is
one of the world's major mobile operators with 161 million mobile
subscriptions in its consolidated operations per Q3 2013, revenues in 2012
of NOK 102 billion, and a workforce of nearly 34,000.

For more information about Telenor Group, please visit www.telenor.com

Telenor Press Contact:
Glenn Mandelid
Vice President Communications
Telenor Group
Mobile: +47 92 66 13 00


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