R-Com now friends with Facebook

Mumbai, Feb. 10: Reliance Communications (R-Com) has joined hands with Facebook to offer free data access to 33 websites to its customers through Internet.org.

The facility will also be available to new customers of R-Com.

Internet.org (a Facebook initiative which has various partners) provides access to popular websites and services with zero data charges so as to make it easier for people to access the Internet, across both the 2G and 3G platforms with both entry-level and high-end smartphones.

R-Com has a subscriber base of around 110 million and of this 35 million have Internet on their phones.

However, close to 60 million of its customers do not use this facility despite having phones with the capability to browse the Net.

The move to offer Internet.org is, therefore, expected to lead to "Internet inclusion'', benefiting not only customers, but R-Com as well.

With access to these websites for free, R-Com can look forward to not only retain customers but also make new ones. Experts added that once on board, some of these customers may also ask for data plans, thereby boosting revenues for R-Com.

To begin with, these services will be available to Reliance customers in the telecom circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The target is to extend these services to the rest of the country within 90 days.

While these services come with free Facebook access, senior officials of R-Com said the company had beefed up its infrastructure to handle higher traffic as they expect customers to use the Internet more often.

The move by R-Com's Anil Ambani comes at a time elder brother Mukesh is gearing up for the formal launch of Reliance Jio's 4G service.

Reliance Communications (RCOM)