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Bringing connectivity to the most remote communities has been considered a mission of Facebook’s internet.org. The moon-shot projects such as Aquila are now in their initial development stage, so the company has planned to move forward with a different kind of strategy. The company is empowering local business partners in order to resell internet hotspots by using its Express WiFi program. This program recently launched officially in partnership with Bharti Airtel (Indian telecom). Point to be noted that failed Free Basics program of the company enabled users to visit websites of Facebook for free and it was struck down by the Indian courts under the net neutrality violation, due to Express WiFi costs money.

The product manager for Express WiFi of Facebook James Beldock indicated that their strategy has always been efficient and we prefer that our programs should work in financially sustainable environment for our valuable partners. He added that strategy of Facebook is to enabling its partners in making connectivity at sustainable and low pricing. It is important that Facebook has partnered with at least 500 local business companies in 4 Indian states for Express WiFi, including Rajasthan, Gujarat and Meghalaya. There would be at least 700 hotspots at its initial level, but 20 thousand more will be activated in the coming months. The estimated package plans are Rs. 10 for 100MB and Rs. 300 for 20GB of data per day. The Express WiFi will provide low-cost with high bandwidth as an alternative in getting online access for apps, download and streaming contents.