NEW DELHI: Mark Zuckerberg is trying to bring free internet to India, but he’s been stunned to discover the country may not want it.

Facebook partner Reliance, a wireless carrier, is offering free internet access via Facebook’s Free Basics service to millions of Indians. The service sounds great on its surface — an estimated 1 billion Indians don’t have internet access — but a series of issues have many Indians pushing back.

For one, Free Basics isn’t the whole internet: it’s just the portion Facebook and its partners decide will be free. That has activists concerned Facebook will choose what poor users see, while only wealthier users can buy full access.

“If you dictate what the poor should get, you take away their right to choose what they think is best for them,” Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote in a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Other critics say Zuckerberg’s seemingly charitable quest is nothing more than a ploy to expand Facebook into the huge untapped market of India.

Zuckerberg defended his plan in an interview.  “Who could possibly be against this?” he asks. “… Instead of wanting to give people access to some basic internet services for free, critics of the program continue to spread false claims – even if that means leaving behind a billion people.

India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority has put the launch of Free Basics on hold for now while it accesses “all details and convey a specific approval.”