News by YKA Staff:
As the net neutrality debate rages on in India, with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg even choosing to write a blog post on a popular daily to address concerns, little has changed the perception of Net Neutrality activists in India, as the counter arguments pile on.
And this is a battle Facebook is clearly not winning elsewhere either.
News has just come in that Egypt has now become the second nation to shut down FB’s free internet service, as per Associated Press reports. India’s TRAI had reportedly done the same earlier this month when it asked FB to disable its Free Basics services till the matter is resolved on whether it violates the principles of net neutrality.
Etisalat Egypt was FB’s telecom partner in Egypt (like Reliance is in India) and started the service around 2 months ago. According to FB, “More than 1 million people who were previously unconnected had been using the Internet because of these efforts.” And that they were “disappointed that Free Basics will no longer be available in Egypt”.
While Facebook is hoping for an early resolution to the problem, nothing was heard from Etisalat Egypt’s end.