Myanmar given free access to the world's knowledge with Wikipedia Zero
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
(Fornebu, Norway, and San Francisco, California - 7 November 2013) -- Telenor
Group and the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, today announced
Myanmar as the latest country to be included in their existing agreement to
bring Wikipedia Zero to Telenor customers in Asia and Europe. Telenor is
supporting the country's ambition of connecting its 60 million people. Through
this agreement, Telenor's future subscribers in Myanmar will be able to access
Wikipedia's vast knowledge base free of mobile data traffic charges when Telenor
begins services in the country.
"The Wikimedia Foundation imagines a world in which every single person has free
access to the sum of human knowledge. By working with Telenor, we are able to
put this knowledge in the hands of the masses, helping to close the knowledge
gap between developed and developing countries. Today's announcement will pave
the way for Telenor to offer all the knowledge that comes with Wikipedia Zero to
its customers in Myanmar," said Carolynne Schloeder, Director of Mobile Programs
at the Wikimedia Foundation.
The partnership between Telenor and the Wikimedia Foundation was established in
February 2012, and was founded on a shared commitment to bring Wikipedia to
Telenor customers free of data charges. The initiative is part of the Wikimedia
Foundation's mobile strategy, which focuses on reaching the billions of people
around the world whose primary opportunity to access the Internet is via a
mobile device. Following the agreement, special versions of Wikipedia for mobile
phones were launched in Thailand, Malaysia and Montenegro. In addition, Telenor
aims to launch Wikipedia Zero in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Serbia in 2014.
"Access to high quality telecommunications tools and affordable services plays a
substantial role in developing societies. To Telenor, this partnership enables
us to provide a strong support to local communities by promoting the exchange
and sharing of open knowledge. Offering Wikipedia free of traffic charges also
helps introduce internet to mobile users, often for the first time. I am
satisfied that our cooperation with the Wikimedia Foundation will now include
Myanmar," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor Group.
On 27 June 2013 Telenor was announced as one of the successful applicants for a
telecommunications license in Myanmar. Following the process described in the
auction guidelines, the company is now in discussions with the Myanmar
authorities regarding the final terms and conditions of the license agreement.
Telenor aims to launch services in Myanmar within eight months after the final
license agreement is signed.
The extension of this partnership was celebrated today in Oslo when Jimmy Wales,
the founder of Wikipedia, met with Jon Fredrik Baksaas and Rolv-Erik Spilling,
Head of Telenor Digital to participate in an event announcing the expansion of
service. Mr. Jimmy Wales was also a keynote speaker at the "Digital Winners"
conference hosted today by Telenor Digital at Telenor Headquarters, where he
shared his views on crowdsourcing for the common good.
# # #
A photo from the event may be downloaded here:
http://www.telenor.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Baksaas_Wales.jpg
About Wikimedia Foundation
· http://wikimediafoundation.org
· http://blog.wikimedia.org
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix, Wikipedia and the
other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation receive 500 million unique
visitors per month, making them the fifth-most popular web property worldwide
(comScore, September 2013). Available in 287 languages, Wikipedia contains more
than 29 million articles contributed by a global volunteer community of roughly
80,000 people. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is
an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and
grants.
Matthew Roth
Communications
+1 415-839-6885 ext 6635 (San Francisco)
mroth(at)wikimedia.org
About Telenor Group
Telenor Group is an international provider of tele, data and media communication
services. Telenor Group has mobile operations in 12 markets in the Nordic
region, Central and Eastern Europe and in Asia, as well as a voting stake of
42.95 per cent (economic stake 33 per cent) in VimpelCom Ltd., operating in 17
markets. Headquartered in Norway, Telenor Group is one of the world's major
mobile operators with 161 million mobile subscriptions in its consolidated
operations per Q3 2013, revenues in 2012 of NOK 102 billion, and a workforce
of nearly 34,000.
For more information about Telenor Group, please visit www.telenor.com
Contact:
Glenn Mandelid
Vice President Communications
Telenor Group
Mobile: +47 92 66 13 00
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Telenor via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1741410]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 07.11.2013 - 10:06 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 313802
Anzahl Zeichen: 5937
contact information:
Town:
OSLO
Kategorie:
Business News
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