PH Startups, Developers Push for Global Digital Inclusion Through Facebook’s Free Basics Powered by Globe

Philippine startups and developers were recently called to push for global digital inclusion by providing free access to basic internet services to millions of people worldwide through Facebook’s Free Basics powered by Globe.

Globe, through its venture capital subsidiary Kickstart Ventures, Inc., recently brought Facebook’s Free Basics closer to Philippine developer and startup communities to rally them to develop locally relevant and useful services for Filipinos through the Free Basics platform.

Jackie Chang, Product Partnerships Manager, Facebook, spoke to over 150 members of the Philippine startup community at the Raid The Fridge event hosted by Kickstart.

“We’re here to support local developers create locally relevant services and content that will make a real impact in people’s lives. This is an opportunity for the developer community in the Philippines to scale their products and bring the benefits of the internet to more Filipinos,” said Chang.

One of Kickstart’s portfolio companies, Kalibrr, which provides online job training and assessment tools to job applicants, is already one of the pioneer Philippine digital startups to be part of the Free Basics platform. To date, Kalibrr has 40,000 monthly active users on its blog advice content.

Globe Senior Advisor for Consumer Business Group Daniel Horan is equally excited with the partnership between Globe and Facebook to connect more people around the world through free internet services. “Globe continues to share with Facebook the common goal of expanding the digital lifestyle and make it more inclusive. By opening Free Basics to developers and entrepreneurs, we see more opportunities to bring more Filipinos online and to benefit from the free basic services offered. With this collaboration, Globe and Kickstart aims to bring more developers and services to the platform.”

He said that the Globe-Free Basics partnership would serve as the company’s impetus to drive existing business models, launch new and exciting offers and make mobile internet more accessible within a safe browsing environment for Globe customers, without having to worry about unexpected data charges.

With the refurbished platform, more than 60 new services are available across the 19 countries where free basic services are available. People using the app or mobile web version can navigate to a menu where they can select which services to add to the list.

To know more about Free Basics by Facebook powered by Globe, visit www.globe.com.ph/free-basics.