Facebook has joined hands with six tech giants — including Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung — for the launch of Internet.org, an initiative aimed at making Internet accessible to everyone.

With an objective to provide Internet access to two-third population of the world who are not online yet, the global partnership will focus on three key challenges in developing countries – making access affordable, data more efficient and helping business drive Internet access. Facebook notes that about 2.7 billion people, over one-third of the global population, are online while the Internet adoption is growing at just 9% each year. Facebook hopes the new initiative will help more people get access to the Internet.

"We are committed to shaping the Networked Society – where everyone and everything will be connected in real time; creating the freedom, empowerment and opportunity to transform society. We believe affordable connectivity and internet access improves people's lives and helps build a more sustainable planet and therefore we are excited to participate in the internet.org initiative.” Facebook's new initiative comes shortly after Google launched Project Loon with a similar concept of providing Internet access to users in rural and remote areas through high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere.