Facebook and Google stake claims in developing world with global internet projects

Net-neutrality advocates are cheering India's decision to reject Facebook's Free Basics program, but say private companies have a big role to play in spreading broadband internet access across the developing world.

Techgiants like Facebook, Google, Virgin Galactic and SpaceXall have high-concept projects in the worksto bring broadbandinternet to the masses aroundthe globe.

While these companies paint their efforts as philanthropic,experts caution thatbusinesses are ultimately motivated by self-interest.

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The United Nations believes expanding broadband access is key to achieving itsmillennium development goals to alleviate world poverty.

"Everybody understands that [the internet]is a platform that is absolutely critical for social and economic development," Sonia Jorge, executive director of theAlliance for Affordable Internet, told CBC News.

But60 per cent of the world's population remains offline,according to the alliance,which works toachieve theUNBroadband Commission's target of globalentry-level broadband priced at less than five per centof monthly income.

The private sector, Jorge said, has a key role to play inachieving these goals.

"Public-private partnerships are so important in this context," she said. "But just as important are the voices and concerns of many other organizations within the wider civil society space,as well as within the research space."

Facebook's Free Basics backlash

Free Basics, a key element ofFacebook'sforay into expandinginternet access,has longbeen marred by controversy.

The app which offers free access to Facebookand a few other selectwebsitesto 19 million people in 38 countries has been accused of being anti-competitive and even colonial.

It hit a major speed bumplast week when India's telecom regulator banned internet serviceprovidersfrom charging different prices for access to differentparts of the web a strategy known as differential pricing, or zero-rated services.

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Proponents of netneutrality the idea that all online services should be equally accessible hailed the decision.

"There are a lot of great ways to bring the unconnected online, but Facebook's Free Basics was not one of them," said Josh Tabish from the Vancouver-based organization Open Media.

"Instead, we want to see fair open access programs that ensure future citizens of the open web get access to the full, real internet not a stripped down, restricted version that's been pre-approved by gatekeepers like Facebook."

The backlash was heightened whenFacebookboard member Marc Andreessentook to Twitter to compare Free Basics favourably to the British colonization of India insisting that both were good for the country.

He hassince apologized for the comments, which Facebook says donot reflect the company's values.

"We will continue our efforts to eliminate barriers and give the unconnected an easier path to the internet and the opportunities it brings," a Facebook spokesperson told CBC News.

Business, not charity

LeoMarani, a tech reporter for The Economist,says theFree Basics backlash stems in part from the way the app has beenmarketed.

"Facebook has painted thisas sort of an altruistic, almost philanthropic endeavour. If you watch the videos that they put out or the press releases that they put out, ads put in Indian newspapers over the last couple of months, they make it seem like they are providing malaria shots to five-year-olds," Maranisaid in an interview on CBC Radio's Spark.

"Not only is it not an altruistic effort, it also has the potential to be damaging to the business of startups in these countries ...and it gives Facebook a tremendous amount of power over the internet."

But Free Basics is just one horse in the race to expand broadbandaccess globally.

Google isbuilding fibre-optic andWi-Finetworks in various African countries throughProject LinkIt's also testingProject Loon, whichuseshigh-altitude balloonsto createaerial wireless networks.

"This isn't about favouring our products. We're supportive of a free and open internet. And when we talk about access, we mean access to the real full-speed, full-colour internet," a Google spokesperson told CBC News.

Meanwhile,SpaceXCEOElon Musk and Virgin Galactic founderRichard Bransonhave both announcedplans to build a satellite network toexpand and improve internet access for billions of people.

Even Free Basics is just one initiative of Facebook'sInternet.org project, which also includes plans to extendnetworks through solar-powered planes, satellites and lasers.

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"What's interesting about [these projects]is they're very innovative ways of using technology for much more affordable broadband, especially in those areas that have been very hard to reach up until now," said Jorgefrom theAlliance for Affordable Internet.

Still, Marani cautions that these companies all overstate theirphilanthropic motivations for projects that will grow their user bases and help their bottom lines.

"I don't think the others are quite as egregious asFacebook,but Silicon Valley in general does have a collective messiah complex," he said.