After its unsuccessful last attempt, Facebook is back in India carrying, the torch of internet.
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Facebook, in a tie-up with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., completed a pilot roll out of 125 rural public Wi-Fi hotspots in an aim to expand its Express Wi-Fi program into a commercial launch in India.
“We are testing Express Wi-Fi program in India now that allows customers to purchase fast, reliable and affordable data packages from their local ISP (internet service providers) to access the internet via local hotspots”, a Facebook India spokesperson said. This initiative is under their Express WiFi program. Earlier this year, when the Free Basics program was discontinued he said that he was disappointed but he will still try to bring the Internet to rural people by different means.
The company’s dangled a program called “Express Wifi” at Internet.org at internet.org, the platform it used for its Free Basics program.
“We are testing Express Wi-Fi program in India now that allows customers to purchase fast, reliable and affordable data packages from their local ISP (internet service providers) to access the Internet via local hotspots”, a Facebook India spokesperson told The Economic Times. “As our partners prove the economic model is sustainable, we will work with them to scale the project”, said a spokesperson for Facebook. Scalability is important for this large a project, as one regulator pointed out that it would take 800,000 hotspots to reach the long-term goal of one per 150 citizens.
“Facebook is investing in the development of the connectivity ecosystem by providing techno-commercial assistance to local ISP partners and entrepreneurs”, a person associated with the matter said. This is to target the two-third population of the country that is yet to access the internet.
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Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi initiative, conducted in partnership with Internet service companies and small entrepreneurs, is aimed at offering reasonable broadband service to the country’s rural areas. The service will enable users to purchase data packages from local ISPs to get online through local hotspots.
