After making a surprise appearance at yesterdays Samsung Unpacked VR event – producing an already-infamous photo which has spent the day circulating on Twitter – Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg returned for the third year running in his now-regular Monday evening MWC keynote slot.

Once again, the focus was on Internet.org, Facebooks joint venture intended to bring the internet to unconnected parts of the globe (“its crazy that in 2016, 4bn people still arent connected to the internet,” said Zuckerberg). The difference this year, though, is that the initiative is truly up and running – and more importantly, has just hit its first major obstacle, after clashing with the Indian government over its Free Basics program last month.

“Thats disappointing for the mission of what were trying to do, and is obviously a major setback in India” Zuckerberg admitted, but remained bullish about Internet.orgs continued work in India. “Facebook isnt a company which hits a road bump and just gives up,” he said.

“The main learning is that every country is different, and the models that have worked in one country may not work in another. Weve continued to roll out Free Basics in other countries, where it is working, but in India were going to shift our focus, from free access to making it more economical to extend networks to new areas by making equipment more affordable.”

Zuckerberg was referring to the Telecom Infra project unveiled today at MWC, which will see Internet.org partnering with telcos to work to reduce the cost of building mobile networks.

India hasnt been the only criticism that Internet.org has faced, however. Zuckerberg admitted that “people dont take us at face value” when it comes to the initiatives stated goal of connecting the world. “A lot of people think companies dont care about anything except making money,” he said, insisting that Internet.orgs aim isnt to make money, at least in the short-term. When asked if the project meant that Facebook wanted to make moves into the internet-providing business, Zuckerberg gave a flat “no”.

“Our goal – to the extent that there is any business goal –is just to get people on the internet,” he said. “Once theyre on, we have a business model that works. We view this as a long-term investment we need to make.”

From encryption to Virtual Reality

Away from Internet.org, Zuckerberg was asked about Apples recent stance on encryption backdoors, following CEO Tim Cooks open letter to the US government.

“Were sympathetic with Apple on this one,” he said. “We believe in encryption, we think thats an important tool, and I dont believe that having to have backdoors into encryption is either the right thing to do or is going to be effective.”

The biggest topic of the evening, though, was Virtual Reality, which Zuckerberg presented as the logical evolution of video as a “better ways for people to express the things they care about”.

“10-15 years ago, most of what we communicated online was text. Then when we first got smartphones, it was photos, and now its videos,” he said. “As the networks get better, thats going to be more and more of what you see, but thats not the end of it all. Theres always going to be a desire for a more immersive way to share moments in life. What I think will happen – and sooner than we think – is the ability to share whole scenes, not just a flat picture, so that people who arent there can feel like theyre really in that place.”

Given MWCs heritage as a telecoms show, Zuckerberg had to address the infrastructure side of VRs growth, saying: “A big part of whats enabling video to become a huge thing is thanks to the improvements in networks – but thats going to need to get a lot better again for VR, by the time we get to live 4K streaming in each eye.”

The technology presents a challenge for operators, then, but also an opportunity: “One of the killer apps for 5G networks is being able to increase the quality of that experience,” he said. “I think thats what the next real driver of demand will be.”