Facebook has partnered with country's largest telecom player Airtel to deploy 20,000 internet hotspots through Facebook's Express Wi-Fi service in India. These hotspots will be installed by the company in the coming few months.

" We are also pleased to announce our partnership with Bharti Airtel to launch an additional 20,000 hotspots- allowing Express Wi-Fi to reach millions more Indians who need super-fast and affordable connectivity, " said Munish Seth, head of connectivity solutions, Facebook Asia Pacific

He  further added, "Our Express Wi-Fi partnerships empower local Indian entrepreneurs to start businesses to offer internet access to their town or region. They also help Indians connect to the internet easily and for an affordable rate. Our goal is to grow the number of Express Wi-Fi hotspots in India rapidly. India has a population of about 1.3 billion people, but according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI's) Performance Indicator Report, only 390 million people are connected to the internet."

Express Wi-Fi is part of Facebook's global initiative to spread internet connectivity. It is currently operational in five countries-India, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Indonesia. Facebook started testing the service in 2015 and has nearly 700 internet hotspots already deployed across the four Indian states of Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Meghalaya with the help of internet services providers (ISPs) like AirJaldi, Tikona, LMES and over 500 other local entrepreneur retailers.

Ajai Puri, chief operating officer (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel said "We are delighted to be a part of this initiative to provide affordable access to high speed data to users across India, particularly in the underserved segment. We believe this will help in empowering millions of Indians by bringing them online and contribute to the Government's Digital India vision."

To access Express Wi-Fi network, user needs to first sign up with an Express Wi-Fi retailer and then purchase a daily, weekly or monthly data pack. User will only then be able to connect to the Express Wi-Fi hotspot, register or create an account, login and start browsing or use any app on the entire internet.