Ugandan subscribers of the Orange Uganda’s network can now access Wikipedia for free, according to the media coordinator, Patience Tindyebwa.
“Any customer with an Orange SIM and mobile internet enabled phone will be able to access Wikipedia, the largest online encyclopaedia in the world, through their mobile browser.”
Through the initiative, Orange Uganda clients can access Wikipedia encyclopaedia services for as many times as they like, at no extra charge as long as they stay within Wikipedia’s pages. With the service which will be rolled out to Orange subscribers throughout Africa, the network in Uganda now targets over 4 million internet users in Uganda.
France Telecom Group owned Orange Uganda currently has around 1 million mobile phone subscribers with most of the subscribers using mobile internet.
Commenting on this, Orange Uganda CEO, Philippe Luxcey, said
“Orange has enabled Ugandans to access affordable internet via their mobile phones and now we are proud to provide Ugandans with access to free knowledge which Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, offers.”
The partnership between France telecom group and Wikimedia Foundation was signed in January and it is targeted at around 70 million users in Africa. In Africa, Orange has presence in Kenya, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt, Botswana, Central Africa Republic, Mali, Madagascar, Reunion, Ivory Cost, Niger, Mauritius and Equatorial Guinea.
Only 10 million of Orange Africa’s 70 million subscribers currently use 2G or 3G enabled handsets which can access the internet. Orange looks to have more than 50% off its subscribers in Africa access the internet on their phones by 2015.
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