Facebook announced the commercial launch of Express Wi-Fi, its second attempt to bring millions of Indians online at an “affordable” fee. The service is currently available in the four Indian states of Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Meghalaya, where the company has 700 hotspots through other internet providers. It has also partnered with Airtel, (currently India’s largest telecom operator), to launch an additional 20,000 hotspots. Customers can sign up for daily, weekly, or monthly plans that cost about $0.15 a day.
“Express Wi-Fi is designed to complement mobile data offerings by providing a low-cost, high bandwidth alternative for getting online and access apps, download and stream content,” says Munish Seth, regional head for connectivity solutions in the APAC region.
Mashable reports that India is the fastest growing market for Facebook. As of last month, Facebook’s marquee platform had 184 million monthly active users in the country, 50 percent of which return to the site every day. The company’s instant messaging and voice calling app WhatsApp also has over 200 million monthly active users in India.Â