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AFAI – Google and co bring the web to developing nations

Jamie Feltham
October 7, 2013

If you think about things that we take for granted in this tech-laden world, basic internet access ranks at the top. We have instant access to web browsers on a range of devices, but there are some five billion people in the world who don’t have that most basic function.

Google would like to change that, as would a range of other tech outlets. The likes of Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Intel have banded together to form the Alliance for Affordable Internet (the AFAI). Their aim (if it wasn’t obvious), is to assist the United Nations in bringing the internet to developing nations. Not only that, but internet access must be available at five percent of the average citizen’s income. The UN is hoping to achieve this by 2015.

In a blog post about the group, Google posted: “No single solution can connect the 5 billion people living without Internet access today,” referring to its past efforts to spread the internet across the globe. The AFAI may be a bit of a strange name, but it’s good to see companies getting involved in what should be a very worthwhile cause.

Source: Google Blog via The Verge

About the Author

Jamie Feltham

Videogamer, music listener, squash player, exerciser, technology journalister. Multimedia journalism graduate, writing for the What Mobile mag and website

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