Wikipedia To Be Free on Mobiles in Africa, Middle East

From SciDev.Net, reported from Nairobi, Kenya, starting in late 2012, people in Africa and the Middle East will be able to benefit from free, unlimited access to the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia through their mobile phone. [Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia, maintained by a global community of volunteers.] As stated here, in mid-2012, initially the service will be available in about eight countries, and by December some 20 countries.

"The scheme targets the region's 70 million customers of the mobile network provider Orange, who will be given free access to Wikipedia on their internet-enabled 'smart' phones. The deal struck between Orange and the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organisation that operates Wikipedia, will allow Orange customers to read and download information from Wikipedia without the usual data usage charges.... But the project will face several challenges, according to local experts."

One of these challenges is Smartphone ownership/affordability. "Michael Njuku of the Kenya Revenue Authority said obstacles will range from low quality mobile handsets people own to a network provider's ability to handle the increased Internet traffic as customers try to access Wikipedia, sometimes millions at a time." He described the problem of poor quality "counterfeit gadgets", expressing hope that African governments will make efforts to keep them off the market.

Reportedly, between seven and 15 per cent of Orange customers in Africa and the Middle East currently have phones that access the internet, but the company plans to increase the proportion to 50 per cent by 2015.

"Kul Wadhwa, head of Mobile and Business Development at the Wikimedia Foundation, said he expects the scheme to encourage more people in Africa to read, contribute and download information from Wikipedia..., [which] contains explanations of many scientific terms and issues, and some have suggested it could be used to share scientific knowledge. More mobile network operators are expected to follow suit in the coming months, according to Wadhwa."