Facebook Founder & CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook Inc has made major strides in helping developing countries connect to the web thanks to its Internet.org charity organization, but yesterday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook and Google receive too much credit for expanding internet coverage.

“We can help, because Facebook is one of the primary apps people want to use,” Zuckerberg told Wired’s Jessi Hempel on the Mobile World Congress stage. “But it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that the real companies that are driving this are the operators and all the investments they’re putting together.”

Internet.org has rolled out its free mobile app to several countries with developing economis and low internet connectivity, including Colombia and, more recently, India. The app provides low cost access to important internet tools, including medical information, parenting tips, weather forecasts, and communication tools like Facebook and Facebook Messenger.

Zuckerberg “doesn’t bring anything” to the party, says one telecom head

Zuckerberg says that Internet.org’s efforts to connect the world are good for all businesses involved, saying, “These apps drive data usage. People want to use these different services, so I think people are going to pay, but I think it is what specific things do you charge for? I think over time it will be data and other services”

But some telecoms are not so sure. Some of Internet.org’s goals, such as offering free text messaging for users, directly conflicts with paid telecom services.

People like Denis O’Brien, chairman of international wireless provider Digicel Group, are not so optimistic about Zuckerberg’s motives. “Mark Zuckerberg is like the guy who comes to your party and drinks your champagne, and kisses your girls, and doesn’t bring anything,” O’Brien told The Wall Street Journal last week. According to O’Brien, free Facebook access is not a big enough motive to get more people paying for mobile or data plans.

O’Brien explains that while Facebook and Google get a lot of the publicity for spreading internet coverage, telecoms like Digicel Group and others are the ones building cell towers and other connectivity infrastructure in regions that lack roads and electricity.

Screen capture via Q&A With Mark/Facebook