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Google Free Zone was a global initiative undertaken by the Internet companyGoogle in collaboration withmobile phone-based Internet providers, whereby the providers waivedata (bandwidth) charges (also known aszero-rate) for accessing select Google products such asGoogle Search,Gmail, andGoogle+.[1] In order to use this service, users were required to have a Google account and a phone that had access to an internet connection.[2]
November 2012: Google Free Zone was announced by Google on November 8, 2012, with a launch in thePhilippines in partnership withGlobe Telecom, with the experimental round scheduled to run until March 31, 2013.[3][4][5]Telkom Mobile inSouth Africa, then branded as8ta, offered Google Free Zone 3 from 13 November 2012 but discontinued the service on 31 May 2013.[6]
April 2013: launch in Sri Lanka on theDialog mobile network.[7]
June 2013: Google launched Google Free Zone inIndia in partnership with mobile Internet providerAirtel,[8][9][10][11] and inThailand on theAIS network.
December 2013: Airtel extended Google Free Zone to its services inNigeria.[12]
A number of Internet commentators viewed Google Free Zone as both inspired by and a potential competitor toFacebook Zero.[15][16][17][18]
TheSubsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones ofChile ruled thatZero-rating services likeWikipedia Zero, Facebook Zero, and Google Free Zone, that subsidize mobile data usage, violatenet neutrality laws and that the practice had to end by June 1, 2014.[19][20]
In addition to regulatory concerns, digital rights advocates also expressed caution about zero‑rating practices. For example, the Electronic Frontier Foundation noted that such programs, though they increase access, "ultimately zero‑rated services are a dangerous compromise" because they create uneven access to information and may distort user behavior.[21]
