Very proud of A4AI’s work, which Facebook supports (disclaimer-I’m on their advisory board)!
I think it’s also interesting to note that the “walled garden” fears were not borne out in this study.
"In terms of users shifting from use of a zero-rated service to a paid service, 28% of all zero-rating users no longer use a zero-rating plan and are now paying customers
(i.e., they now use a full-cost or service-specific plan). In addition, 35% of all zero-rating users continue to use the zero-rated service and a paid plan.”
Essentially, their findings also mirror Research ICT Africa’s findings-zero-rating is not magic-it can assist with bringing down the cost of data and also with introducing people to the Internet, but infrastructure and policy solutions are absolutely critical.
Conversely-there’s no evidence that zero-rating dooms people to a lifetime of limited content, because cash-poor or cash-limited people are not less intelligent or less curious than rich people, and they can use and are using zero rating as a bridge to the
wider Internet and as a supplement to paid access.
Important study..and findings.
1. Zero-rating did not bring most mobile Internet users online for the first time.
2. The
vast majority of users (82%) prefer access to the full Internet with time or data limitations, if restrictions are imposed.
3. Public
WiFi is the primary means of connection for one in five users.
Regards,
Nanjira.
Sent from my iPhone.