Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (News - Alert) has formally joined with other leaders of tech companies to promote access to the Internet through Internet.org.

The goal is to add another five billion people – many of whom live in developing economies – as users of the Internet. The business leaders want to make access to the Internet more affordable. In fact, they want to make it 100 times more affordable by lowering costs and lowering the amount of needed data. They appear to favor the phone as the preferred device to reach those not getting Internet access.

The founding members of Internet.org in addition to Facebook are: Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm (News - Alert) and Samsung.

"Everything Facebook has done has been about giving all people around the world the power to connect," Zuckerberg said in a recent statement. "There are huge barriers in developing countries to connecting and joining the knowledge economy. Internet.org brings together a global partnership that will work to overcome these challenges, including making Internet access available to those who cannot currently afford it."

The move makes sense as a social goal as well as a business goal.

“The Internet is such an important thing for driving humanity forward, but it’s not going to build itself,” Zuckerberg recently told The New York Times. “Ultimately, this has to make business sense on some time frame that people can get behind.”

The organization has come up with different methods to lower the cost of Internet access. One option is to extend the range of antennas and relays. Compression algorithms can be added so the number of bytes and bits is lowered, too. Another option is caching data on a telephone. Using open-source hardware is another method. The idea is to send more data while lowering the amount of needed energy from a battery.

“The immediate goals of the new coalition are to cut the cost of providing mobile Internet services to one percent of its current level within five to 10 years by improving the efficiency of Internet networks and mobile phone software,” according to a report from the Times. “The group also hopes to develop new business models that would allow phone companies to provide simple services like e-mail, search and social networks for little or no charge.”

To see a video on the new initiative, please click here.

As of now, 2.7 billion people have access to the Internet. That represents about a third of the population worldwide. Based on current data, Internet adoption currently increases by no more than nine percent a year.

To increase access, there are some similar limited efforts involving other companies. Google (News - Alert) gives some users of wireless service found in developing economies access to Gmail and search – for free. Google’s Project Loon uses balloons to beam Internet access to the Earth. Twitter (News - Alert) provides some limited free access, too.