With Internet.org turning one this week, Facebook's project to spread Internet access to the developing world isn't just getting older — it's also targeting new telecommunications partners in hopes of connecting more people to the Web.

Although the initiative has worked with roughly 12 telecom companies to provide basic Internet in 17 countries, Facebook hopes that figure will grow. Now, any network provider who wants to work with Internet.org can. It just needs to contact the program on a special page.

To help woo those firms, Internet.org is arguing that it represents more than a tool to get the disconnected online: It's also good for the carriers' bottom lines. In a blog post, Internet.org cites various figures designed to get network operators seeing dollar signs — or perhaps more accurately, pesos, francs and rupees — in a possible partnership with Mark Zuckerberg's initiative.

Internet.org brings new users onto mobile networks on average over 50% faster after launching free basic services, and more than half of the people who come online through Internet.org are paying for data and accessing the internet within the first 30 days. These points show that Internet.org is not only a successful tool in helping bring people online, but it is successful in showing people the value of the internet and helping to accelerate its adoption.…

In the past month people using Internet.org accessed health services more than a million times.

For cellular carriers in developing countries, these numbers suggest the potential for rapid growth if they keep investing in their data networks and use Internet.org as an onramp. That could be a compelling message: No mobile Internet provider is going to sign on with Internet.org unless it thinks it'll get something out of it.

Facebook's just betting that it can turn this dynamic to its advantage and bring the next 4.5 billion people to Facebook.