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<span class="storycentimg" style="border: 0px solid #d7d7d7; float: left; margin: 2px 15px 2px 0px; width: 650px;"><span style="width: 650px;"><img align="left" alt="" border="0" hspace="0" src="http://media2.intoday.in/indiatoday/images/stories//2015March/zuckerberg-mittal_650_030815060951.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d7d7d7; margin: 2px 0px;" title="" valign="top" vspace="0" /></span><span class="mos-caption" style="text-align: center; width: 650px;" valign="bottom">Mark Zuckerberg and Sunil Mittal</span></span><br />
Taking
 on social networking giant Facebook's ambitious 'free internet' plans, 
telecom major Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Mittal has said the companies 
should do 'philanthropy' if they stop charging for mobile internet.<br />
<br />
Facebook
 has launched an 'internet.org' initiative under which users can access 
internet free of charge for select websites if they come through a 
partner telecom operator, reported PTI.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, Airtel 
Africa is one such partner for Facebook, while rival Reliance 
Communications has partnered Facebook in India for this initiative, 
which is based on assumption that bringing more people to the internet 
fold by offering them free service initially is good for the industry.<br />
<br />
Mittal,
 who met Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg here at the Mobile 
World Congress, said that the social networking major is right in its 
thinking that such a would expand the market, but telecom operators also
 need to get their revenues and charge for the services.<br />
<br />
"I told 
him (Zuckerberg) that you are right that this (internet.org) expands the
 market. At the end, you must understand that we (telecom operators) 
need to charge you for something. SMSes have gone more or less, voice is
 going down and they (Facebook) recognise that," Mittal said in a media 
interaction here.<br />
<br />
"If you are going to make the data free, then 
let's do completely philanthropic projects. Government must make 
spectrum free, there should be free network, but it is not happening," 
the billionaire industrialist said, while adding that telecom companies 
were as such not making large money.<br />
<br />
The comments, incidentally, 
come at a time when a high-pitched auction is underway in India for 
spectrum and committed bids worth about <span class="rupee">R<span>s.</span></span>86,000 crore have come in within first four days of bidding -- crossing the minimum targetted amount of <span class="rupee">R<span>s.</span></span>82,000
 crore. The auction will resume tomorrow, as more unsold spectrum is 
left and there are expectations that the overall auction may cross <span class="rupee">R<span>s.</span></span>one lakh crore.<br />
<br />
Telecom
 companies say they invest billions of dollars in spectrum, network and 
other operations, but they argue that internet-based entities offering 
pseudo-telecom services are piggy-backing on the mobile operators' 
networks without bearing much investments on their own.<br />
<br />
At the 
same event here, UK-based telecom giant Vodafone's global CEO Vittorio 
Colao reportedly said about Facebook's free-of-cost internet plan that 
"it is almost like Zuckerberg does philanthropy, but with my money."<br />
<br />
Mittal
 cautioned that investments in mobile networks by industry will go down 
as Internet-based messaging and calling services are 'cannibalising' 
revenues of telecom firms.<br />
<br />
"He (Zuckerberg) is saying that make 
Internet.org lite version of Facebook free of data charge, so that 
people will upgrade. People will come to internet for the first time. 
The point is that it is self-serving for them," Mittal said.<br />
<br />
Telecom
 operators have been facing pressure on their financials from the 
emergence of a number of Over-The-Top (OTT) firms like Facebook (through
 its WhatsApp messaging service), Skype and Viber, which on their part 
claim to be helping telecom operators grow business.<br />
<br />
"We (telecom 
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operators, social media and over-the-top players) are good for each 
other but they, regulators and politicians must understand that 
networks' investment must be on reasonable terms. Gone are the days when
 telecom companies were making large amounts of money," Mittal said.<br />
"OTT
 players must understand pains of the mobile industry. Sometimes we are 
seeing as gatekeeper, bad guys. The fact of matter is spectrum - there 
is cost, network there is cost and tariff has gone up by only 3 paise in
 last three years," he added.<br />
<br />
In December, Airtel had announced 
separate charges for Internet based calling services but withdrew it 
after an outcry on social media.<br />
<br />
"The rate that we announced was 
exactly the same rate as a voice call. If you do one minute VoIP 
(internet based calls) in kilobyte terms it would be exactly the same as
 voice call. <br /><br />
<br />
It was exactly the same as one minute call," Mittal said.</div>
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Mittal to Zuckerberg: Want to free Internet? Do philanthropy

Mark Zuckerberg and Sunil Mittal Taking on social networking giant Facebook's ambitious 'fr...