Skip to main content

Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi offers internet service to developing countries

Facebook is dipping its toes into the ISP business with Express Wi-Fi. This app allows users in developing countries to buy data packs that can be used at hotspots. The app is currently live in five developing countries. The hot spots themselves are managed by local business owners, and Facebook hopes it can provide an alternative to the slow data plans offered by cell carriers.

Express Wi-Fi isn’t completely new, but Facebook’s Play Store App offers several key improvements over the first version. For starters, it’s available on the Play Store, which makes it a lot easier to find, plus it no longer requires users to reconfigure their phones. The Play Store app also offers a way for users to find various hot spots nearby.

“Facebook is releasing the Express Wi-Fi app in the Google Play store to give people another simple and secure way to access fast, affordable internet through their local Express Wi-Fi hotspots,” a Facebook representative told Tech Crunch.

Facebook has tried something like this in the past with Free Basics, but that option was widely derided, as it only offered a handful of Facebook-approved services, rather than true internet access.

The app marks a major push to expand Facebook’s market into the developing world, where lack of quality internet can make social media sites difficult, if not impossible, to use. The move comes at a time when Facebook is nearly omnipresent in developed nations, though there are signs that it may be declining. In Q4, Facebook saw its U.S. and Canadian userbase decline by 700,000. This was, in part, due to Newsfeed changes, which no longer emphasized viral videos as much.

In order to sustain itself, the company needs to find new members and the developed world may be nearly tapped out. This is partially the reason Facebook has embarked on a number of initiatives meant to provide developing countries with affordable access to the internet. In addition to Express Wi-Fi, it is working to develop solar drones, which can provide internet service to people in remote areas.

Though the company may have humanitarian aims in mind with these endeavors, it is also an investment in Facebook’s future. After all, the first step towards getting people on Facebook is getting them online.

Editors' Recommendations

Eric Brackett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
This new gaming monitor has a built-in Wi-Fi antenna
Phantom gaming monitor PG34WQ15R2B and PG27FF1A models.

The Taiwanese brand ASRock is getting more into the gaming market, now introducing its first gaming monitors, one with a never-before-seen integrated Wi-Fi antenna feature on such a product.

The Phantom gaming monitors include the PG34WQ15R2B and PG27FF1A models, but the first is the one with the integrated antenna.

Read more
Wi-Fi 7 officially hits 5Gbps, five times the speed of your current router
A Wi-Fi router with an ethernet cable plugged in.

Intel and Broadcom have collaborated on a Wi-Fi 7 demo ahead of its prospective 2023 certification, according to PC Gamer.

The two companies showcased the upcoming connectivity standards, successfully demonstrating 5Gbps speeds going between an Intel laptop and a Broadcom access point. The speeds are five times faster than Wi-Fi 6 and 2.5 times faster than Wi-Fi 6E. They also have the potential to get even faster as Wi-Fi 7 develops as an ecosystem, the publication added.

Read more
The key to fixing your bad Wi-Fi connection may finally be here
Checking a Wi-Fi router and internet connection on a phone.

If you've ever found yourself frustrated due to poor Wi-Fi signal in certain buildings or rooms, we might have some good news -- a solution might be on the way.

A team of researchers from the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) and the University of Rennes found a new way that could help Wi-Fi signals go through walls.

Read more