Afghanistan will soon have free access to Wikipedia

Afghanistan is improving its technological infrastructure rapidly. Now the country is ready to give its mobile users free access to Wikipedia.

Free Wikipedia access is the result of a partnership between Roshan mobile and Wikipedia itself. Free access will be a part of Wikipedia Zero initiative which is operational since 2012 in more than 50 other countries on 60 mobile operators. The users in Afghanistan will not be charged for using Wikipedia on their phones and no data will be deducted from their data plan. Which means that even if you have zero balance, you can use Wikipedia on your phone.

Wikipedia Zero will give you full access to Wikipedia including the images and editing tools. This is an excellent initiative by Roshan mobile as it’s been only a month it is offering 4G services in the country.

“At Roshan, we are proud to have been leading the efforts to increase access to information. The partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation expands the frontier of access to information and knowledge, especially for Afghanistan’s youth who make up almost two-thirds of the population.” Altaf Ladak, deputy CEO of Roshan, said in a statement.

Wikipedia Zero will be available for free for 1 year. Roshan and Wikipedia might renew their partnership after 1 year and may give its users free Wikipedia mobile access for another year. In Pakistan, Jazz introduced Wikipedia Zero in 2013 and enabled millions of Pakistanis to use Wikipedia for free.