Google Free Zone was a global initiative undertaken by the Internet company

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

in collaboration with mobile phone-based Internet providers, whereby the providers waive data (bandwidth) charges (also known as '' zero-rate'') for accessing select Google products such as

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google or Google.com) is a search engine operated by Google. It allows users to search for information on the World Wide Web, Web by entering keywords or phrases. Google Search uses algorithms to analyze an ...

Gmail Gmail is the email service provided by Google. it had 1.5 billion active user (computing), users worldwide, making it the largest email service in the world. It also provides a webmail interface, accessible through a web browser, and is also ...

, and

Google+ Google+ (sometimes written as Google Plus, stylized as G+ or g+) was a Social networking service, social network owned and operated by Google until it ceased operations in 2019. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challe ...

. In order to use this service, users were required to have a Google account and a phone that had access to an internet connection.

History

* November 2012: Google Free Zone was announced by Google on November 8, 2012, with a launch in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

in partnership with

Globe Telecom Globe Telecom, Inc., commonly shortened as Globe, is a major provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines. The company operates one of the largest mobile, fixed-line and broadband networks in the Philippines. As of November 2023, ...

, with the experimental round scheduled to run until March 31, 2013.

Telkom Mobile Telkom (formerly known as 8.ta from 18 October 2010 till 19 March 2013 and as Telkom Mobile From 19 March 2013 till 2014), is a South African mobile telecommunications company. Telkom was launched in October 2010 and is owned by Telkom SOC. Telk ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, then branded as ''8ta'', offered Google Free Zone 3 from 13 November 2012 but discontinued the service on 31 May 2013. * April 2013: launch in Sri Lanka on the Dialog mobile network. * June 2013: Google launched Google Free Zone in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in partnership with mobile Internet provider

Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian multinational telecommunications company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and LTE Advanced ...

, and in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

on the AIS network. * December 2013: Airtel extended Google Free Zone to its services in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. * March 2014:

Safaricom Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region. T ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

had launched 60 day promotional Free Zone.

Reception and impact

A number of Internet commentators viewed Google Free Zone as both inspired by and a potential competitor to

Facebook Zero Facebook Zero is an initiative undertaken by social networking service company Facebook in collaboration with mobile phone-based Internet providers, whereby the providers waive data (bandwidth) charges (also known as '' zero-rate'') for accessin ...

. The ''Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones'' of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

ruled that ''

Zero-rating Zero-rating is the practice of providing Internet access without financial cost under certain conditions, such as by permitting access to only certain websites or by subsidizing the service with advertising or by exempting certain websites from ...

'' services like Wikipedia Zero, Facebook Zero, and Google Free Zone, that subsidize mobile data usage, violate

net neutrality Net neutrality, sometimes referred to as network neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering User (computing), users and online content providers consistent tra ...

laws and that the practice had to end by June 1, 2014. In addition to regulatory concerns, digital rights advocates also expressed caution about zero‑rating practices. For example, the Electronic Frontier Foundation noted that such programs, while increasing access, "ultimately zero‑rated services are a dangerous compromise" because they create uneven access to information and may distort user behavior.

References

{{Google LLC Free Zone Internet access Net neutrality

History

Reception and impact

See also

References