MTN Zambia launches free Facebook Flex
In partnership with Facebook, MTN Zambia has today launched Facebook Flex, a service that allows subscribers on the MTN network to access Facebook for free.
The launch was held at MTN headquarters in Lusaka and was shared with various media houses by MTN Zambia CEO Charles Molapisi, CMO Felix Kamengo and Facebook Lead for Operator Partnership for Middle East and Africa Mathias Sillanpaa, pictured above.
With Facebook Flex, subscribers will be able to switch between the free and paid versions of Facebook. The features that can be accessed on Flex are posting status updates, commenting, messaging via Messenger but will not allow the user to see images or video.
MTN subscribers can access Facebook Flex on the Android app while users on iOS and other operating systems can access it by going to www.facebook.com in their native browsers.
Speaking on the partnership, Matias Sillanpaa said: “Facebook Flex is a free service that will give people content and access to services for free, lessens the connectivity barrier, and allows anyone anywhere to get online through it.”
MTN CEO Charles Molapisi applauded his marketing team for pushing the product, adding: “Zambia’s population has many young people who need access to the internet and MTN wants to bring this accessibility. We want to include everyone in Zambia digitally to access to financial services, health services, education and more affordably. We will continue to make innovative products available for our subscribers. MTN will continue to make innovative products available for our subscribers.”
Vinni from Techtrends Zambia spoke about the trade possibilities on Facebook Flex, saying: “Facebook is ‘the internet’ in the 3rd world and is used more than traditional mobile services, and will be great for building online communities for businesses and startups in trade opportunities.”
At the end of the event Molapisi was asked what MTN would do about the content that its subscribers pots but he said it’s not something MTN has control over and would need to work with organisations like ZICTA and Facebook itself to catch users abusing the service:
