Latest revision as of 15:20, 12 August 2021

This page has been archived.
Its content is no longer being maintained, is likely out of date, and may be inaccurate.

This page can be relocated to Meta-Wiki.

Imagine a world in which every single human being on the planet has equal access to the sum of all knowledge.

Together, we are creating the most comprehensive encyclopedia that has ever existed - Wikipedia. Wikipedia belongs to all of us.

About Wikipedia Zero

The Wikimedia Foundation created Wikipedia Zero in 2012 to address one barrier to participating in Wikipedia: high mobile phone data costs. To do this, we partnered with mobile operators, which in turn, waived data costs for access to Wikipedia. Throughout the program’s six year tenure, we partnered with a total of 97 mobile operators in 72 countries, providing over 800 million people with access to Wikipedia and its sister projects free of mobile data charges.

Wikipedia Zero program discontinuation

As of February 2018, the Wikipedia Zero program has been discontinued. For more information, please see this announcement on the Wikimedia blog: Building for the future of Wikimedia with a new approach to partnerships

Press coverage

Awards and recognition

Additional links and contact information

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Archived}}
-__NOTOC__<div style ="float:right; width: 22em;">
+__NOTOC__<div class="nomobile"><div style ="float:right; width: 22em; margin-left: 2em">
-=<span style="font-size: 1.5em">We invite mobile operators all over the world to join our mission.</span>=
-<center>
-Email us: wikipediazero{{@}}wikimedia.org
-</center>
 [[File:Open_Letter_for_Free_Access_to_Wikipedia_-_three_months_later%2C_MTN_responds.webm|thumbtime=123|310px]]
@@ Line 29: / Line 26: @@
 [[File:WZ_myanmar_Telelnor_Baksaas_Wales.jpg|310px]]
-</div>
+</div></div>
-<div style="margin: 0 26em 0 0">
 <span style="font-size: 1.5em;">Together, we are creating the most comprehensive encyclopedia that has ever existed - '''Wikipedia'''.</span><span style="font-size: 1.5em;"> Wikipedia belongs to all of us.</span>
+=== About Wikipedia Zero ===
-== Overview ==
-Volunteer Wikipedians around the world work hard to compile the sum of all human knowledge, to make it freely available to every single person on the planet. For many readers in the Global South, the primary (and often only) access to the internet is via mobile. However, mobile data costs are a significant barrier to internet usage. We created Wikipedia Zero so that everyone can access all the free knowledge on Wikipedia, even if they can't afford the mobile data charges.
+The Wikimedia Foundation created Wikipedia Zero in 2012 to address one barrier to participating in Wikipedia: high mobile phone data costs.  To do this, we partnered with mobile operators, which in turn, waived data costs for access to Wikipedia. Throughout the program’s six year tenure, we partnered with a total of 97 mobile operators in 72 countries, providing over 800 million people with access to Wikipedia and its sister projects free of mobile data charges.
-So far we've launched Wikipedia Zero in 29 countries with 34 operators... and we're just getting started.
+=== Wikipedia Zero program discontinuation ===
-<gallery mode=packed heights="250px">
+As of February 2018, the Wikipedia Zero program has been discontinued. For more information, please see this announcement on the Wikimedia blog: [[wmfblog:2018/02/16/partnerships-new-approach/|Building for the future of Wikimedia with a new approach to partnerships]]
-File:Wikipedia Zero countries as of May 2014.png|Countries with Wikipedia Zero
-</gallery>
-=== Benefits to partners ===
-Wikipedia Zero has clear benefits to users and to the Wikimedia movement. It also makes good business sense for operators. It's smart to take a leadership role in providing access to vital services over the mobile network, both to educate people about the life-changing power of the mobile internet, and to support economic and societal growth. Operators who support Wikipedia Zero recognize that offering use of their network free of charge can have a huge impact on the people they serve, so it's good business.
-=== Concept and experience ===
-Implementing Wikipedia Zero is simple. The operator "zero-rates" access to Wikimedia sites in their billing system, so their subscribers will not incur data charges while accessing Wikipedia and the sister projects on the mobile web or apps. Wikimedia recognizes the user is on that operator's network and serves a banner on the top of the page indicating free data courtesy of their mobile operator, which reinforces a positive brand experience for the operator. When the user leaves the Wikimedia sites, they see a warning message and are asked to confirm, so there is no confusion or risk of surprise charges.
-Wikipedia Zero itself is not a separate product from the core Wikipedia mobile site.  An original version of the Wikipedia Zero program zero-rated free access to a lightweight, text-only version (located at zero.wikipedia.org) of the Wikipedia mobile site. While several existing partners still offer this version of the program, it will be phased out in favor of the full version.
-<span class="plainlinks mw-ui-button mw-ui-progressive">[[Wikipedia_Zero/Development|<span style="color:#FFFFFF">Learn more about development and implementation</span>]]</span>
 == Press coverage ==
 * [[/Press coverage/]]
-* [[Mobile partnerships|Wikipedia Zero partner list and media Q&A]]
+* [[Mobile partnerships|Wikipedia Zero partner list]]
 * [[wmfblog:c/wikipedia-zero/|Wikimedia blog posts about Wikipedia Zero]]
@@ Line 63: / Line 47: @@
 == Additional links and contact information ==
-*'''[mailto:wikipediazero@wikimedia.org?subject=Engagement Email us]''' for information on joining as a partner.
 *[[commons:File:Reaching next billion users Wikimania Mobile 2012.pdf|Wikipedia Zero PDF presentation]] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6HOqFzPclI video] from [[wm2012:|Wikimania 2012]].
 *[http://www.wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Staff_and_contractors?showall=1#Wikipedia_Zero Wikipedia Zero Programs Team]
 *[https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Staff_and_contractors?showall=1#Partners Wikipedia Zero Engineering Team]
-</div>
-== References ==
-<references/>
-[[Category:English]]
-[[Category:Wikipedia Zero]]
-[[Category:Initiatives]]