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By Bloomberg

Facebook Inc. will offer subscribers of Reliance Communications Ltd. in India its free application Internet.org as the social-networking service seeks to get more people in the world’s second-most populous country online.

The partnership will enable Reliance customers using the app to access Facebook and about three dozen websites offering news and information on weather, jobs, government services, and health without incurring data charges, Chris Daniels, vice president of Internet.org at Facebook, said by phone today, declining to provide details of the deal. In addition to English, the app comes in six Indian languages.

Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is pushing Internet.org to bring online access to people who can’t afford it around the globe. India, the second-largest market for the Menlo Park, California-based company with 112 million active users, is estimated by McKinsey & Co. to have about 1.1 billion people who don’t access the Internet.

“We still have a long way to go to connect India,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page. “But I’m optimistic that by getting free basic services into people’s hands, more change can follow pretty rapidly.”

Reliance, the third-biggest Indian carrier by market value, will initially roll out the app to its subscribers in seven circles, Gurdeep Singh, chief executive officer of the Mumbai- based company’s consumer business, said today. In 90 days, Internet.org will be offered across India, he said.

The deal with Reliance doesn’t limit Internet.org from tying up with other carriers in India, Daniels said. He declined to say in which country the service will be offered next. The app is available in Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya and Colombia.