Google & Facebook Join Alliance For Affordable Internet

The Alliance for Affordable Internet is a group of tech companies and industry sponsors who are working together to reduce the cost of internet access, enabling developing countries to get connected via the internet.
While it might seem incomprehensible to some people that a household might not have 4 internet devices, the fact of the matter is that two thirds of the world are not connected at all because they simply can’t afford it. By connecting these developing countries, the A4AI hope to increase the population’s exposure towards healthcare, education and science.

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Recently, Google and Facebook have announced that they have joined the 30+ other companies who are involved with A4AI. These companies include:

• Yahoo
• Intel
• Microsoft
• Ericsson
• Cisco

Objectives

The main objective of the alliance is to offer developing countries a more affordable internet access in the belief that by improving internet access, the countries will have access to some of the tools needed in order to grow and develop.
The technological genius companies and sponsors will use their know-how as well as innovative technology to reduce the costs of internet access.

In order to track and assess internet affordability around the world, the Alliance for Affordable Internet will introduce a survey. The results of this survey will be used to formulate the next plan of attack in the war against internet costs.
There will also be changes to policies and procedures helping to reduce costs further which can then be reflected in the consumer’s price plan for internet access.

Lastly, the Alliance will work directly with the Governments of each country, educating and guiding along the way while cutting out the middle man.
By 2015, the A4AI hope to have reduced the internet costs to under 5% of the average wage in 12 developing countries.

[Image via The Verge]
[SOURCE: http://techbeat.com/2013/10/alliance-for-affordable-internet/]