The social network pioneer, Facebook, has entered into partnership with domestic cellular company, Tigo, to award its customers with free access to Facebook in Kiswahili through their mobile phones. Commenting at the launch of the partnership in Dar es Salaam, Tigo General Manager Diego Gutierrez expressed that it is for the first time that Facebook will be complimentary on any mobile network in East Africa. He added, "What this partnership means is that Tigo customers can, for the first time, access Facebook through their handsets without incurring any data charges and Tigo customers in Tanzania will be connected with the social media network's 1.2 billion users worldwide.”
Articulating his thoughts on this new version in Kiswahili, he conveyed, "It is the first time any major social media company has made a version in Kiswahili, the national language spoken by Tanzanians and majority of the people in East, Central and Southern African region. Facebook has been a fantastic driver of data on mobile networks. With this unique partnership, we are making Tigo stand out from the crowd and giving many customers their first taste of the internet and social media, in Kiswahili. That's what creating the digital lifestyle is all about, and it reinforces our strategy to encourage more Tigo customers to use data as part of their daily communications activity."
The fruitful partnership is part of Facebook's current Internet.org initiative instigated by the company's founder, Mark Zuckerberg. The innovative service is anticipated to discover and open new frontiers to Tanzanians and to other Kiswahili speakers by presenting them new business, educational and other socio-economic opportunities across the world. Besides five East African Community (EAC) member states, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, Kiswahili is also spoken in regions of Malawi, Somali, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique.
With this launch, Tanzania, the country identified for being the birthplace of Kiswahili language, becomes the first in the region to spotlight this language globally, a breakthrough that Tigo, its parent company Millicom and Facebook takes credit for. Further, Nicola D' Elia, Facebook Director for International Growth and Partnerships commented, "We're excited to be working with Tigo again to give more people in Tanzania the ability to share and connect free of data charges across Facebook apps and mobile website, and now in the traditional language of Kiswahili."
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