It seems like Facebook has not yet given up on India. The company said that it is in the early stages of providing Wi-Fi services, with the help of Internet service providers (ISPs), in the country. The program, called Express Wi-Fi, has just finished its beta stage through which 125 Wi-Fi hotspot connections were provided.
Facebook wrote about the project on its internet.org page: “Express Wi-Fi empowers local entrepreneurs to help provide quality Internet access to their neighbors and make a steady income. Working with local ISPs or mobile operators, they’re able to use software provided by Facebook to connect their communities.”
In order to provide Internet facilities to users, mobile phone owners need to purchase Internet data from their local service providers. These service providers are given software by Facebook through which they provide and sell Internet in rural areas of the country with the help of Wi-Fi hotspots. The aim is to bring the entire Indian population online.
The social giant believes that by providing Internet facilities in the region, it will be able to attract more users from India. People will be more likely to join Facebook after using Internet services provided by the company itself. India has already been identified by Facebook as its next big market, having over 142 million users.
India is just behind the US in terms of users. There are still many people in India who don’t have access to basic Internet facilities. By providing Internet to such users, Facebook believes that it can attract them to use its platform, which will help increase its user-base. Due to its high population, several tech companies are shifting their focus towards India in order to capitalize on the lucrative market.
This is not Facebook’s first project in India. Previously, it rolled out its Free Basics program to provide basic Internet facilities in the country. The only difference between the two programs is that Free Basics was completely free, while Express Wi-Fi services need to be purchased by the users from their local service providers.
Free Basics was launched last year but was soon banned by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The ban was due to net neutrality rules. Some net neutrality activists believed that by offering free Facebook and other services in India, the social network was trying to promote its services and platforms only, which is a clear violation of net neutrality.
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was disappointed by the ban and vowed that he would continue to work on getting the whole world online. Internet.org is an industry consortium that was launched by Facebook three years ago. The aim was to provide Internet in rural areas and emerging economies through satellites and solar powered drones.