FREE Facebook on your phone! Thanks to MTN.

More than 100 million Facebook subscribers access their Facebook account via their mobile phone.  Facebook is the most popular mobile site in nearly every country in the world – especially after they launched their text messaging service (which is similar to MXit) that allows you to chat to your Facebook buddies.

Until recently, when you access Facebook on your MTN phone, you would have been charged standard data rates.  But here is some great news!  MTN is now allowing their subscribers FREE access to Facebook through the mobile site 0.facebook.com (zero.facebook.com).  When you access this site using your MTN phone, you will not be charged for the data as long as you stay on the site.  However, if click on a link that takes you to the official Facebook mobile site (for example, if you would like to look at a friend’s photographs), then you will be charged standard data rates.

You will notice that 0.facebook.com is a very simplified version of Facebook, which means that almost any WAP (Internet) enabled mobile phone will be able to access this site.

In an article on IT Web, MTN’s chief marketing officer Santie Botha made this comment: “In the true spirit of innovation and bringing our customers convenience – including the latest in technology at affordable rates – MTN has collaborated with Facebook on this venture to ensure our customers are among the first to benefit from this social service and communication offering for free.”

“We are always looking to work with innovative companies to provide simple and fast mobile access to Facebook across the world,” says Henri Moissinac, head of Mobile Business, Facebook. “Thanks to our collaboration with MTN, people will now be able to access Facebook for free through 0.facebook.com.”

Kudos to you MTN!