Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg was in Indonesia this weekend, where he met with President-elect Joko Widodo and hosted a forum with Ericsson and XL Axiata intended to help developers create more energy-efficient apps.
The trip is part of Facebook's push for a more connected planet via Internet.org, an organization that was founded last year. As Internet.org noted in a Sunday press release, about 85 percent of the world's population can connect to a cellular network, but only 30 percent access the Web.
"For most people, the barrier to connectivity isn't a signal, it's the ability to afford data," Internet.org said. "Developers can play a key role in bringing down the cost of the Internet by building more data efficient apps for communities where data is less accessible."
As a result, Facebook hosted a workshop in Jakarta that allowed developers to test their apps and measure user experience under local network conditions with the help of engineers from Facebook, Ericsson, and XL.
"Over the last couple of days, I've had the opportunity to meet many people here and talk to them about how they're using the Internet," Zuckerberg wrote in a Monday Facebook post. "Many are already using the Internet to build businesses, improve their communities and connect with the world. If we can connect everyone in Indonesia, these benefits will only continue to grow."
President-elect Widodo, meanwhile, (pictured above with Zuckerberg) "has an amazing perspective since he ran much of his presidential election campaign through Facebook and the Internet in order to communicate directly with all 250 million Indonesians," Zuckerberg wrote.
In addition to more efficient apps, Facebook has also worked with Ericsson and XL Axiata to boost overall network performance in Indonesia.
"Over the last year, Facebook worked with Ericsson and XL Axiata in Indonesia to create a methodology to analyze, monitor, and improve end-to-end network performance using simulated Facebook application use cases," Internet.org said. "Through this process, the group identified user-impacting issues and addressed them throughout the network. The network-wide adjustments delivered up to 70 percent improvement in network performance from the user perspective."
"We now know that it is possible to increase network performance using existing network resources, which is key to helping close the connectivity gap," the group said. More details about that effort are available in a 20-page white paper published today.
Internet.org aims to bring to next 5 billion people online. It got its start in August 2013, with the support of tech heavyweights like Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm, and Samsung.
In July, the group launched a new app that provides people in Zambia with free basic Internet services. Mobile users in the African country can access a set of health, employment, and local information services, without data charges. That includes AccuWeather, Google Search, Wikipedia, women's rights app WRAPP, and, of course, Facebook.
The social network is also exploring more high-tech options for providing Web connections. Facebook's Connectivity Lab team has been working on developing new platforms for connectivity "on the ground, in the air and in orbit." In March, it acquired U.K.-based Ascenta, whose five-person team worked on early versions of Zephyr, the longest-flying solar-powered unmanned aircraft.