Social media giant Facebook has launched its Express Wi-Fi service in the country. Facebook revealed the service has been in testing since 2015 with various ISPs and is now commercially available via nearly 700 hotspots across four states - Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Meghalaya.
Alongside, Facebook announced its partnership with Airtel to launch 20,000 new Express Wi-Fi by Facebook hotspots across the country "over the next few months". Services in Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Meghalaya are currently enabled by AirJaldi, Tikona, LMES, and Shaildhar ISPs, respectively. The company in a press statement noted that the Express Wi-Fi connectivity solution is currently live in five countries - India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
Facebook says anyone can access the Express Wi-Fi network by signing up with an Express Wi-Fi retailer and purchasing a daily, weekly or monthly data pack at a rate set by its partners. They will then be able to connect to the Express Wi-Fi hotspot, register/create an account, login, and "start browsing or use any app on the entire Internet."
The company says it will be expanding the reach of Express Wi-Fi in India. Last year, Facebook started working with local internet service providers to offer limited users access to quality internet.
"We are delighted to be a part of this initiative to provide affordable access to high speed data to users across India, particularly in the underserved segment. We believe this will help in empowering millions of Indians by bringing them online and contribute to the Government's Digital India vision," Ajai Puri, chief operating officer (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
The US-based company had launched the Free Basics programme in 2015 in partnership with Reliance Communications and allowed access to selected websites.
However, it met severe criticism as critics saw this as violation of the principle of net neutrality that advocates equal treatment of all internet traffic.
Facebook finally pulled the plug on the controversy- ridden programme in India in February last year after sectoral regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India barred operators from charging discriminatory rates for Internet- access based on content.
Interestingly, Facebook continues to run the Free Basics programme across many countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment