DELHI: Telecom operator Uninor is offering to its more than 45 million subscriber’s free access to Wikipedia. The offer, kick-started on April 1 will be valid for three months.
With the introduction of free Wikipedia and more such services in the pipeline, Uninor plans to have half of its users on the internet statement. “By giving free access to Wikipedia, Uninor will be able to put this repository of knowledge in the hands of the masses and empower the society,” Uninor’s chief executive Vivek Sood said in a statement.
As part of the programme, the employees of Uninor, Indian unit of Norway’s Telenor, will also engage with students and teachers to spread awareness on digital literacy, with a special focus on Wikipedia in the rural areas. In 2012, Telenor had committed to bring Wikipedia to its customers free of data charges through a partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation. Following the agreement, free access to Wikipedia on mobile phones has been launched in Telenor’s business units in Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Montenegro.
“By promoting free access to Wikipedia, Uninor is spreading awareness and opening doors to information to people who might otherwise not have access to it,” said Carolynne Schloeder, director of Mobile Partnerships at the Wikimedia Foundation. Last year, Uninor had introduced service-based plans for Facebook and WhatsApp for its subscribers.
