SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said Friday that 200,000 poor people in Brazil will be getting “fast free wifi”.
“I just met with President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil,” Mr. Zuckerberg said. “We had a good discussion about working together to connect more people to the internet in Brazil.
“One project we announced today is a trial connectivity program in the Heliopolis favela in São Paulo. This is a low income neighborhood of around 200,000 people in Brazil’s largest city. We’re going to deliver fast free wifi to everyone in this community so they can access basic internet services on their phones — including free services around health, jobs, education and communication.
“The President and I both believe that everyone should share in the social and economic benefits of connectivity. We talked about the opportunities for technology to bring diverse communities closer together and also to improve education. These are things we care a lot about at Facebook, so we’re committed to finding more ways to collaborate.
“I’m excited for Facebook to help more Brazilians connect with their loved ones and create greater opportunities around the world.”