BackFacebook faces challenge on user base in India: Zuckerberg
Reforms are necessary to promote universal access in India, says Facebook founder
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Mark Zuckerberg has an eye on India.
The Facebook founder’s latest mission, internet.org, is to connect five billion people across the globe using the Internet. Presumable, a few 100 million of those will be in India, which Zuckerberg describes as a “really big opportunity". Speaking exclusively to Mint’s Pankaj Mishra, the 29-year old social networking pioneer is clearly keen to up the 82 million monthly active Facebook user base in India, but says the comparatively small Internet subscriber base in the country means “we have a long road ahead".
For the Indian government which is wrestling with issues of privacy and control over the medium, Zuckerberg has some advice and that includes promoting “infrastructure-sharing and network efficiency through measures such as licensing of white space spectrum and reallocation of excess spectrum. These reforms are necessary to promote universal access, which is a stated goal of the government of India".
On the tricky issue of hardening immigration policies in the US, Zuckerberg says he is with the people who are trying to get a satisfactory deal done: “What we are trying to do with Fwd.us is to support people who are trying really hard to get things done in the (US) Congress. For the people who are trying hard, we are there to support them and hopefully they can get it (comprehensive immigration reform) done." While that may not be as clear an endorsement of Indian software companies’ stand on the matter, it does show the young Zuckerberg is now clearly a mature world citizen.
For the full exclusive interview with Mark Zuckerberg, click here.
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