Tuesday, 9th
December 2014 – Kingston, Jamaica
Today
Digicel and the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organisation that
operates Wikipedia and its sister projects, announced a partnership to offer
free access to Wikipedia to all Digicel customers, whether they are subscribed
to a data plan or not. The collaboration is part of
Wikipedia Zero, an initiative to give people unlimited access to
Wikipedia free of data charges from their mobile devices, in alignment with
Wikimedia's mission to provide access to knowledge and information.
Currently an estimated 400 million
mobile subscribers have free access to Wikipedia, thanks to 41 operators in 34
countries who have already joined Wikipedia Zero. The Digicel agreement will
extend free mobile access to Digicel’s customers in 31 markets across the
Caribbean, Central America, and Asia Pacific.
Digicel Haiti customers
will be the first to take advantage of the collaboration with the service
launching there today.
Even prior to the devastating
2010 earthquake in Haiti, 70% of all Haitians were living on less than $US2 a day and the country was the poorest in
the Western Hemisphere. While recovery from the 2010 earthquake has been slow but steady, access
to connectivity via mobile phones has shown tremendous improvement across the
country. Today, Digicel Haiti
has more than four million mobile subscribers.
“We
know that our customers want to get the best value out of their handsets. With
mobile penetration growing exponentially in the region and more and more people
using their mobile phones as educational tools, we are delighted to be bringing
the joys of Wikipedia to our customers at no charge,” said Maarten Boute,
Chairman of Digicel Haiti.
Wikipedia is the largest collection of free knowledge ever
assembled. It is a collaborative creation by volunteer editors from all over
the world. Across its more than 280 language versions Wikipedia contains more
than 33.5 million articles, attracting nearly half a billion unique visitors
every month and more than 20 billion monthly page views. Every month roughly 70,000 people
actively edit Wikipedia.
“We are
committed to ensuring that people not only have access to the knowledge on
Wikipedia without barriers on mobile phones with no data charges, but that they
can become knowledge creators themselves, and build strong communities of the
future. We are therefore very excited about the collaboration with Digicel
where the potential to open up the knowledge on Wikipedia to new audiences is
immense, and the impact in communities such as Haiti could be transformative.”
said Carolynne Schloeder, Head of
Global Partnerships with the Wikimedia Foundation.
Wikipedia
Zero is available via a free app downloadable in the Google Play store, the
iTunes store, or at www.wikipedia.org
ENDS
ABOUT DIGICEL
Digicel Group is a total communications and entertainment
provider with operations in 33 markets in the Caribbean, Central
America and Asia Pacific. After 13 years of operation, total
investment to date stands at over US$5 billion worldwide. The company is
renowned for delivering best value, best service and best network.
Digicel is the lead sponsor of Caribbean,
Central American and Pacific sports teams, including the Special Olympics teams
throughout these regions. Digicel sponsors the West Indies
cricket team and is also the presenting partner of the Caribbean Premier
League. In the Pacific, Digicel is the proud sponsor of several national rugby
teams and also sponsors the Vanuatu
cricket team.
Digicel also runs a host of community-based initiatives
across its markets and has set up Digicel Foundations in Haiti, Jamaica,
Papua New Guinea and Trinidad and Tobago
which focus on educational, cultural and social development programmes.
Visit www.digicelgroup.com for more information.
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the
non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia.
Wikipedia consists of more than 33.5 million articles in 288 languages. Every
month, roughly 80,000 active volunteers contribute to Wikipedia and the other
Wikimedia projects. According to comScore Media Metrix, the projects operated
by the Wikimedia Foundation receive 460 million unique visitors per month on
desktop alone, making them one of the ten most popular web properties worldwide
(October 2014). Based in San Francisco,
California, the Wikimedia
Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through
donations and grants.
Wikimedia Foundation Contact:
Katherine Maher
Chief Communications
Officer
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