Facebook gears up for Express Wifi launch in India

Less than a year after its grand attempt to connect much of India to the internet was shot down by the government, Facebook has confirmed that its new program to bring connecting to people is live in the nation. 

Facebook's Express Wifi is now available in India, according to its website, months after the company first began testing the program in remote parts of the country. 

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On the Express Wifi website, the company says, "we’re working with carriers, internet service providers, and local entrepreneurs to help expand connectivity to underserved locations around the world. We’re currently live in India, and are expanding to other regions soon."

"Express Wifi empowers local entrepreneurs to help provide quality internet access to their neighbors and make a steady income. Working with local internet service providers or mobile operators, they’re able to use software provided by Facebook to connect their communities," the website adds. 

Through Express Wifi, Facebook allows customers to "purchase fast, reliable and affordable data packs via digital vouchers to access the internet on the Express Wifi network," a spokesperson told Mashable India. 

"We focus on building a sustainable economic model for all stakeholders involved, so that local retailer entrepreneurs, ISPs, operators, and Facebook can continue to invest in and operate lasting connectivity. We believe a sustainable economic model is the one which can scale to bring all of India online," the spokesperson added.

Facebook hasn’t shared the places where Express Wifi program is live currently, insisting that the company is still conducting tests around the service. It has not revealed pricing details to access the internet service either.

According to an earlier report, at least one of the ISPs that Facebook may have partnered for Express Wifi program is state-owned RailTel, which offers internet facilities tapping the optic fibre cable that runs alongside railway tracks that cover almost 70 percent of the country. It is the same carrier that Google has a partnership with for its free Wi-Fi services at over 50 railway stations in India. 

Express Wifi, also part of Facebook's Internet.org initiative, differs from Free Basics program that received a lot of flak earlier this year in India. Free Basics was banned by the Indian government earlier this year on grounds of violating net neutrality. With Free Basics, Facebook was offering customers with unlimited access to select services.  

Privacy advocates had asked Facebook to consider making amendments in the service, and offer access to the entire internet, even if it required Facebook to put a cap on the amount of data a user could consume for financial reasons. It appears that Facebook took a note of these suggestions while building up Express Wifi.