Facebook's Zuckerberg wants billions more online

Food, water and the Internet?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to get all of the world's 7 billion people online through a partnership with some of the largest mobile technology companies.

Facebook Inc. on Wednesday announced a partnership called Internet.org to broaden global access to the Internet. The partnership includes the world's biggest social network, plus Korean electronics giant Samsung, Finnish handset maker Nokia and wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc. More companies are expected to join.

Facebook said the group's goal is to "make Internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected" -- about 5 billion people.

"The Internet not only connects us to our friends, families and communities, but it is also the foundation of the global knowledge economy," Zuckerberg wrote in a paper posted to his Facebook page late Tuesday. The title asks "Is Connectivity A Human Right?"

Of course, connecting more people to the Internet is the kind of philanthropy that would create more potential Facebook users, which would also help boost the company's bottom line.

Internet.org's plans, still in an early, rough-draft phase, include developing cheaper smartphones and tools that would reduce the amount of data required to run mobile applications.

For Facebook, the move would certainly add more users to its current 1.15 billion and with them more advertising revenue.