Facebook to launch a new Express WiFi service across India

New York, May 05: The Social media giant Facebook launched a new Express WiFi service here on Thursday, which can provide Internet facility through public hotspots to users in rural parts of India.

The social network has partnered with telecom operator Bharti Airtel that plans to bring an additional 20,000 hotspots online, starting in the next few months, media reported.

The launch comes a year after Facebook put an end to the controversial "Free Basics" program that drew severe criticism from advocates of net neutrality.



"Our strategy has always been that these programs work if they are financially sustainable for the partners we work with," the report quoted James Beldock, the company's product manager, as saying.

Facebook has launched the service commercially in Kenya earlier.

“WiFi, of course, is a far easier onramp to the Internet than most other means of getting online,” Beldock stressed.