Partnership with Facebook’s internet.org in Colombia
Stockholm, 15 January, 2015 – Millicom, the international telecommunications and media company (Stockholmsbörsen: MIC), announced today a partnership between its Tigo operation in Colombia with Facebook’s Internet.org initiative. It follows the collaboration begun in Paraguay in December 2013 and Tanzania in April 2014.
The exclusive partnership gives Tigo customers the opportunity to access a number of information, social media and government services without any data charges via the internet.org app. These include:
- AccuWeather
- UN Women: Yo Aprendo (women’s empowerment)
- MAMA (mobile health)
- UNICEF
- Su Dinero (financial information)
- 24 Symbols (access to over 100,000 books)
- Government services for education, agriculture and victims of the armed conflict and
- Wikipedia.
In Colombia, Tigo has over seven million customers whilst fifteen million of Facebook’s 1.2 billion global users are based there.
Chris Daniels, Vice President of Internet.org, Facebook in Colombia, said "We are excited to expand our partnership with Tigo to bring the Internet.org app to Colombia. This is the first time the Internet.org app is available in Latin America, and by working with Tigo to make the internet more accessible through a set of free basic services, more people can come online and discover useful services and information.”
The General Manager of Tigo-UNE in Colombia, Esteban Iriarte, commented “We are delighted to be the first operator in Latin America to offer these free services. We continue to extend access to the internet and help democratize it by giving access to all our customers.”
Mario Zanotti, Millicom’s Senior Executive Vice-President Operations, commented “This is Millicom’s third partnership with Facebook which began in Paraguay in 2013. These have proven to be highly successful in promoting digital inclusion and introducing people to online services for the first time. We hope that Tigo customers in Colombia will enjoy using these as we continue to promote the wider benefits of the digital lifestyle.”
At the launch press event in Bogota, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg praised Tigo’s “fast and new” network and said “We are really excited to be doing this with Tigo”.
For more please visit: www.millicom.com or contact:
At Millicom
Press: Julian Eccles, VP, Corporate Communications, on +44 7720 409374 at press@millicom.com
Investors: Nicolas Didio, Director of Investor Relations, on +44 203 249 2220 at investors@millicom.com
About Millicom
Millicom is a leading international telecommunications and media company dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America and Africa. Millicom sets the pace when it comes to providing digital lifestyle services to the world’s emerging markets, giving access to the world, primarily through mobile devices. Operating in fourteen countries, primarily using the Tigo brand, Millicom offers innovative and customer-centric products. Millicom employs more than 10,000 people and provides mobile, cable, broadband, TV content, online and financial services to over 50 million customers. Founded in 1990, Millicom is headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm under the symbol MIC. In 2013 Millicom generated revenue of $5.16 billion and EBITDA of $1.9 billion.
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