Meta has announced that it will discontinue its Express Wi-Fi program. The program was launched in 2016, and it aimed to help connect communities in developing countries.
Meta to Discontinue Express Wi-Fi Program
The Express Wi-Fi program has allowed satellite operators and mobile operators to build and grow their Wi-Fi networks while providing customers in more than 30 countries with steady internet, according to Engadget.
A Meta Connectivity update said that they are concluding their work on the program to focus on creating other projects for their customers. They will continue to work with their partners across the telecom ecosystem to deliver better connectivity.
In 2013, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that he wanted to connect "the next 5 billion people." This promise is the reason why Free Basics was created. Meta's Free Basics provide affordable smartphones and internet access to developing countries.
However, after its 2015 launch in India, officials complained about net neutrality violations discontinued the program.
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Facebook's next project, Express Wi-Fi, worked with ISPs, carriers, and entrepreneurs in South Africa, India, and the Philippines to give internet access through local hotspots.
Retailers sold internet access, while Facebook's parent company, Meta, gained new customers by creating social media accounts.
The Wall Street Journal reported that glitches in Meta's free internet service led to unexpected charges by local carriers, usually discovered after the prepaid plans of the users were drained.
A Meta spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that while most of the problem has been fixed, they are working to continue to solve the issue.
Before sunsetting Express Wi-Fi later this year, Meta stated that it would work with partners to minimize the impact of the discontinuation of the program on their businesses and their customers' internet connectivity.
Meta's Free Basics
Meta's free internet service was launched in developing countries and low socio-economic areas more than five years ago to give people free access to online services.
However, a lot of people said they were charged for using data by their cellphone providers while using the apps in free mode. Altogether, the fee amounted to millions of dollars monthly, according to CNET.
Meta took note of all the problems last year, calling it a breach of its transparency principle, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The internal documents described the issue as when users are in Free Mode and believe that the data they are using is being covered by their carrier networks, even though the users are paying for the data themselves.
The issue is connected to a text-only version of Facebook, a spokesperson for Meta, Drew Pusateri, told CNET in an email.
The spokesperson said that they tell people that viewing pictures and videos will result in data charges when they sign up, and they do their best to remind people that viewing them may result in charges.
The Meta spokesperson added that the issue identified in the internal report that affected some of those reminders had been addressed by the company. They will continue to work with their partners to meet their obligations to all users and ensure transparent and accurate data charges.
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Written by Sophie Webster
