Facebook and other technology giants launched an initiative Wednesday designed to give the whole world access to the Internet.

The project is entitled internet.org and its goal is to extend Internet access to 5 billion people by cutting the cost of smartphone-based Internet services in developing countries.

"Everything Facebook has done has been about giving all people around the world the power to connect," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said.

"There are huge barriers in developing countries to connecting and joining the knowledge economy," he said.

The other partners in the project are Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, Qualcomm, MediaTek and Opera, while Twitter and LinkedIn are also due to sign up.

Today some 2.7 billion people, just over a third of the world's population, have access to the Internet, and the number of new users is growing only slowly each year, a statement said.

"The goal of internet.org is to make Internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected, and to bring the same opportunities to everyone that the connected third of the world has today," the statement said.

The seven founding partners are going to develop joint projects, share knowledge and mobilize governments and industry to bring the world online.

AFP