Facebook India MD Umang Bedi Quits To Start Own Venture

Indian social media circuit has witnessed another high profile exit. This time, Facebook India Managing Director Umang Bedi has bid the social networking giant adieu just about 16 months after joining the organisation. Bedi is the second top executive to quit Facebook India in the past two years.

Bedi joined Facebook India in July 2016, at a time when the Mark Zuckerberg led company was facing severe backlash from India’s telecom regulator TRAI over the net neutrality issue for its ‘Free Basics in India’ project.

With Bedi’s exit, Sandeep Bhushan, director, consumer and media for South Asia at Facebook, has been appointed as the interim managing director.

“We confirm that Umang Bedi will be leaving his role at Facebook at the end of this year. He’s built a really strong team and business during his time with us, and we wish him all the best,” read a company statement.

Reportedly, after quitting Facebook, Bedi has plans of starting a technology-based venture of his own.

When Bedi joined Facebook from Adobe India, he was given the responsibility of salvaging the company’s reputation and brand image in the Indian subcontinent and work out solutions to generate new revenue streams for the company in addition to launching variations of Free Basics or Internet.org in India.

Bedi played a crucial part in launching Express Wi-Fi, another product under Facebook’s Internet.org programme. I

The Express Wi-Fi project is an integral part of Facebook’s much talked about Internet.org mission through which the social networking giant is aiming to bring internet connectivity across the whole wide world, especially in the rural pockets. The company tied up with Bharti Airtel to launch as many as 20,000 hotspots.

One of the interesting things about the project's launch in India is, unlike any other project or product launch by Facebook, the company has maintained a very silent demure about the whole launch. It can be understood that Facebook decided to keep it this way after a very public failure of its Free Basics program, which entailed granting people in India access to the web free of cost but came with a few strings attached. The program was ultimately banned by India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last year for violating the principles of net neutrality.

Unlike Free Basics that provided access to selected websites for free, Express Wi-Fi operates on a ‘paid’ model. Further, the access is not restricted to any particular website and users can log into Wi-Fi hotspots and buy daily, weekly or monthly data packs.

India is the second-largest user base for Facebook globally, after the US. In November last year Bedi said, not only is India Facebook’s second-largest market, but it is also “the most strategic market” for the company.

Facebook India MD Umang Bedi Quits To Start Own Venture

Indian social media circuit has witnessed another high profile exit. This time, Facebook India Managing Director Umang Bedi has bid the social networking giant adieu just about 16 months after joining the organisation. Bedi is the second top executive to quit Facebook India in the past two years.

Bedi joined Facebook India in July 2016, at a time when the Mark Zuckerberg led company was facing severe backlash from India’s telecom regulator TRAI over the net neutrality issue for its ‘Free Basics in India’ project.

With Bedi’s exit, Sandeep Bhushan, director, consumer and media for South Asia at Facebook, has been appointed as the interim managing director.

“We confirm that Umang Bedi will be leaving his role at Facebook at the end of this year. He’s built a really strong team and business during his time with us, and we wish him all the best,” read a company statement.

Reportedly, after quitting Facebook, Bedi has plans of starting a technology-based venture of his own.

When Bedi joined Facebook from Adobe India, he was given the responsibility of salvaging the company’s reputation and brand image in the Indian subcontinent and work out solutions to generate new revenue streams for the company in addition to launching variations of Free Basics or Internet.org in India.

Bedi played a crucial part in launching Express Wi-Fi, another product under Facebook’s Internet.org programme. I

The Express Wi-Fi project is an integral part of Facebook’s much talked about Internet.org mission through which the social networking giant is aiming to bring internet connectivity across the whole wide world, especially in the rural pockets. The company tied up with Bharti Airtel to launch as many as 20,000 hotspots.

One of the interesting things about the project's launch in India is, unlike any other project or product launch by Facebook, the company has maintained a very silent demure about the whole launch. It can be understood that Facebook decided to keep it this way after a very public failure of its Free Basics program, which entailed granting people in India access to the web free of cost but came with a few strings attached. The program was ultimately banned by India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last year for violating the principles of net neutrality.

Unlike Free Basics that provided access to selected websites for free, Express Wi-Fi operates on a ‘paid’ model. Further, the access is not restricted to any particular website and users can log into Wi-Fi hotspots and buy daily, weekly or monthly data packs.

India is the second-largest user base for Facebook globally, after the US. In November last year Bedi said, not only is India Facebook’s second-largest market, but it is also “the most strategic market” for the company.

Revealed: Facebook’s Free Basics Violates Net Neutrality and Isn't Even Helpful, Says Report

It's been two years since Facebook’s Free Basics has been in the public domain and ever since then it has been at the centre of constant debate. While India has already banned the app stating its net neutrality defying nature, a recent report by activist group Global Voices has found out that not only does Facebook’s Free Basics violate net neutrality principles, it’s not proving that helpful to even those who are using it.

People using the Free Basics app have to survive with a basic Bing search engine, a Johnson & Johnson-sponsored baby advice app, and a number of other sponsored apps. In fact, Facebook is the only popular social media app accessible on the Free Basics app. The app in question here doesn’t even come with an email platform support.

Facebook’s Free Basics was banned by India's Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last year for violating the principles of net neutrality. Through the Free Basics app, Facebook aims to help bridge the digital divide in developing countries in parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The initiative, which is now active in 63 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, has become a crucial part of Facebook's strategy to become the most popular and powerful social platform on earth.

The app also comes with certain language and content limitations that doesn't make its case stronger either. For instance, if you access Free Basics in Pakistan, you would only be able to access it in English and Urdu. Thus, leaving out other major languages spoken in the country like Punjabi, Pashto etc. Further, most of the apps featured inside are US and UK-based, with only a few local options available.

The Global Voices report only takes into account data collected from Columbia, Mexico, the Philippines, Ghana, Pakistan, and Kenya and not all of 63 countries that the initiative is currently active in. According to the report, Facebook is just acting like an ISP and collects users’ traffic data. It says, "For users who want to get online with Free Basics, Facebook makes and enforces the rules of the road, and is the primary benefactor of profits generated by user data."

Facebook's take on the entire issue is quite surprising. According to the Mark Zuckerberg led company, limited internet access is better than none, and it’s doing its part by connecting those who live in rural or impoverished areas.

Nobody Knows But Facebook’s Wi-Fi Has Been In India For Over A Year

Last week, we reported how Facebook has decided not to bring its unmanned solar-powered drone, Aquila, to the Indian subcontinent, leaving quite a few people disappointed. In order to pump up their spirits and improve the company's position in the country, Facebook decided to divert the focus from Aquila to its Express Wifi project by spreading news in the media that the social media giant has now started testing the service in India. But, here's the real news, Facebook has already been testing the service in rural India since last year. This was right around the same phase that the Mark Zuckerberg led competition was facing the flack in India for its Net neutrality initiative.

What is Express Wifi project?

Express Wifi is going to allow users to purchase internet from local data providers. So, it isn't a free Wi-Fi service like tech giant's Google’s free WiFi service at the Indian Railway Station. In order to make the Express Wifi project a success in India, Facebook is making use of the old cable operator model. The main aim of the project is to bring WiFi to areas in the country where even in the year 2016 the connectivity is very scarce.

Currently, Facebook has implemented the model in over a 100 rural villages all across India, where the users have to come to a particular community area in order to access the internet. The social networking giant has developed the commercially available Wi-Fi access point technology with their software. A local entrepreneur of that particular area can help people electronically buy internet for a price as low as ten rupees.

The social networking company, which enjoys its second largest user-base in India, is targeting entry-level phones with this project. There will be no restrictions whatsoever on the websites that can be accessed on the Wi-Fi network. It is important to note that Facebook is just creating Wi-Fi access points for users wanting to access the net, and it still makes use of local Internet service providers for the data. So, Facebook’s technology provides a helping hand in providing last mile connectivity where it is not yet available. To make it simpler to understand, the social networking giant is just acting as a technology enabler when it comes to Express Wi-Fi project.

The Express Wi-Fi project is actually an integral part of Facebook’s much talked about Internet.org mission. Through this mission, the Mark Zuckerberg led company aims to bring internet connectivity across the whole wide world, especially in the rural pockets. In addition to the Indian villages, Facebook has also been testing its Express Wi-Fi in some other parts of the world. Facebook’s Free Basics, which was banned by India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) earlier this year for violating the principles of net neutrality, was also a part of the Internet.org mission.

[Top Image: Munish Seth, Country Manager-Connectivity Solutions India region shows off how Express Wi-Fi will work. Credits: Indian Express]

Its Official, Facebook Internet Drone Aquila Is Not For India, Says Facebook India Chief

While Facebook has constantly boosted about having a special corner for its Indian users since they form the second-largest user base for the social networking site, but unfortunately this time their action isn't in coherence with their this speech. The Mark Zuckerberg led company has decided not bring its unmanned solar-powered drone, Aquila, to the Indian subcontinent.

Aimed at providing infrastructure for affordable internet connectivity in remote areas all around the world, Aquila could have made substantial difference in India's below-average internet connectivity scenario.

The social networking decision to not bring Aquila to India was recently confirmed by Facebook's India and South Asia managing director, Umang Bedi to a website.

Earlier in the month, India's Aquila dreams were fanned by an ET report which quoted Robert Pepper, Facebook’s connectivity public policy director, divulging the fact that the California-based giant was currently in the midst of talks with a number of Indian telcos for the trials of the drones.

What makes Aquila so interesting to the world is the fact that solar-powered drone's wingspan is wider than a regular Boeing 737 and is capable of staying in the air for up to a whopping 90 days at one go, delivering internet connection in remote areas where fibre connectivity hasn't completely reached yet. The drone has a potential of delivering internet in a 96.5-km radius. Unfortunately, Aquila is currently under investigation in the United States after it recently met with an accident.

Whether or not this investigation has something to do with the project being scrapped for India can only be speculated about, at this moment.

Though Aquila might not be coming to India, Facebook is still looking at a sustainable development effort in the country via one of its new initiatives called the Express Wifi. Though the project is still in early stage pilot, but the social networking giant has already started working with telcos and entrepreneurs.

Express Wifi is going to allow users to purchase internet from local data providers, and according to a leading daily, it has already successfully been offered at 125 rural Wifi hotspots as part of the pilot. As soon as the pilot materialises, we can expect more details on the project.

According to Bedi, not only is India Facebook’s second-largest market, but it is also “the most strategic market” for the company.

Facebook's Express Wifi initiative comes after Facebook’s Free Basics was banned by India's Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) earlier this year for violating the principles of net neutrality. Free Basics pitched to provide some of the websites such as its own absolutely free of cost. But, with the Express Wifi initiative, Facebook will be adhering to all the rules and regulations of the land.

According to Bedi, Facebook's vision for India is to remain a "loved and trusted brand.”

[Top Image: rark.in]

DIY Network Could Lead To More Democratic Internet

The World Wide Web allows us to be stay connected with our near and dear ones all around the world. But, there are times when even the internet fails to dispense its duties. This was recently witnessed during the refugee crisis, where the telecommunications market failed to deliver internet connectivity to people in dire need of it.

Seeing the market fail to provide Internet to people in need, a number of citizen organisations have decided to step in and take the matters in their own hands.

One such community network that has had a good success rate is Freifunk.net. It has successfully filled the gap and provided necessary internet services to refugees present in Germany.

All this was achieved courtesy DIY networking, which is being deemed as one of the most innovative way in which communications technology is currently being used.

DIY networking is actually an umbrella term used for different types of grassroots networking, such as the mesh networks. These mesh networks are known not only to allow wifi routers to provide signals to wifi-enabled devices, but the routers also have the ability to connect to and talk to each other. One can create a larger wifi zone by connecting them or meshing them together.

It has been quite sometime that artists have been working on these networks as way to diversify and expand human communication abilities, while at the same time questioning the mainstream access to the World Wide Web.

These networks are also being employed as social tools so as to reconnect citizens, as it happened in the Sarantaporo.gr initiative in Greece. Not only Sarantaporo gifted a community solution for affordable internet access, but it also provided a model that can be considered revolutionary in nature for building networking infrastructure. The network attracted the attention of some of the most famous academics and institutions.

Such has been the quality and popularity of these networks that the Spanish community network, Guifi.net, ended up winning last year's European Union broadband award.

According to industry experts, these networks have a crucial role to play in challenging the domination of a few corporations over the Internet. Also, they are also raising the much needed attention towards surveillance, manipulation, privacy, net neutrality, and censorship.

How do they work?

A fact unknown to many, wireless routers can actually do much more than just connect one's devices to the net. They also have the ability of hosting a wide variety of web services, right from a simple website to a full fledged collaborative platform, which is accessible to only those who are in its physical proximity.

These also include an online guestbook for an urban garden, a virtual announcement board for apartments, a file-sharing platform for a particular workshop, and many more such innovative uses of the “self-hosted” web applications, like Etherpad, Wordpress etc. that can be used by anyone to host on a private web server.

All these services can be accessed through the router’s wireless antenna by announcing a network name, a Service Set IDentifier (SSID), almost similar to the way it happens when one tries connecting to a free or home wifi. They might just appear automatically on a splash page or captive portal when one opens their browser.

In cases where a router comes with a second antenna, it can easily be used to connect to a similar router present in the coverage area whose size is dependent on environmental factors and the type of antenna.

While the first antenna can be employed to allow people having their own personal devices to connect, the second antenna can be used for exchanging information with the neighbouring router. Each router then end up becoming a node in a small network, meaning anyone who ends up connecting to any one of them would be easily be able to avail their services, and people connected to, the other as well. As and when more nodes are connected, a larger area gets covered, and ends up forming a community, initially by the nodes' owners and eventually by every user in the area.

While creating such a network single handedly is a task, but one can surely build themselves a single network node by making use of a cheap hardware and a free self-hosted software for the purpose of installing the set of local services and applications of their own choice.

The one legal issue that one might face is when one tries to offer internet connectivity via such a network. This happens because of the liability issues that arise in the case of copyrighted content.

Personal networks

It is considered perfectly legal to operate such a node on its own, attached inside your back or to your home's balcony. This could become your very own personal network and you can even invite people around the area to join in.

Anyone in the proximity of the connection can join in without requiring any credentials or other identification, and without any internet connection. Occupy.here, the PirateBox or Polylogue are some examples of such personal networks.

There is a bright possibility of building and customising a wide variety of such DIY networks very soon by making use of the MAZI toolkit.

Community networks

It has been a long time that tech enthusiasts and activists have been pitching for the Internet to be a more open, neutral and democratic platform. The community wireless networks have been under development by them since the late 90's.

They constitute an interesting mix of local services, such as live streaming and the provision of net connectivity. Networks such as Sarantaporo.gr, Freifunk, WlanSlovenja, and many more lay their focus on this very aspect.

All of these also have several differences related to the very concept of the community and also the governance model.

For example, Freifunk follows a “free internet for all” approach, which mostly depends on the voluntary contributions received from its members. While Guifi.net has developed a unique model for itself in which it treats network infrastructure, including fibre cables, as separate from the services that they are providing.

When corporations step-in

In addition to all the communities, civil society organisations, researchers and engineers that are making efforts to bring the World Wide Web to all, there are also big organisations like Facebook and Google that are focused on doing the same.

Platforms by these giants have a potential of becoming possibly the only online places that people frequent. But, this would come at huge cost: their privacy and self-determination.

Hence, there is a need to built internet for the common good of the people and not to cater the interests of a few corporations.

By creating local alternatives, one makes an important contribution to the net-diversity debate, and also ends up serving various social, practical and political purposes.

[Top Image-umich.edu]

India's New Open Internet Law Is Stronger Than the United States'

Net neutrality and Free Basics have been a hot topic for discussion this last month, with both the sides trying to prove themselves right. Facebook wanted to launch its plan called "Free Basics", where there was a proposal of providing people who cannot afford the internet, free access to a set of websites and a few internet based services. This was being opposed by the advocates of net neutrality, who had conflicting beliefs and said that this initiative was in violation of net neutrality. The decision on this issue was to be made by the TRAI, which received a lot of petitions from both the sides.

Interestingly, TRAI's new open internet policy has some affects on US too as it has increased the pressure on US regulators to address a glaring loophole in US federal policy that allows telecom companies to sidestep rules designed to preserve the internet’s open and freewheeling nature.

TRAI recently came out with a new policy banning "Zero rating" in India. Zero Rating is a practice where mobile operators do not charge end customers for data used by certain application or service, kind of like the toll-free numbers we have. TRAI also banned differential pricing, where a service or product is priced differently based on the user. This stopped the wheels of the Free Basics program of Facebook, leaving them little or no choice at all, which eventually resulted in Free Basics being withdrawn from India.

There is still some debate regarding internet.org or Free basics but as of now they have been shut out of India pertaining to the recent changes in the policies by TRAI. The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg expressed his disappointment in a Facebook post about these new regulations imposed by TRAI, but he went on say that this doesn't dishearten them and that the team will keep fighting to bring connectivity in India and across the world. This is a moment of victory for all the supporters of net neutrality and the Save The Internet initiative in India. But this doesn't eradicate the concerns that people still have regarding the internet and such services. Then again,t his is just the beginning, the TRAI is working on more rules and regulations regarding net neutrality and similar issues in the hope of actually saving the internet.

India's New Open Internet Law Is Stronger Than the United States'

Net neutrality and Free Basics have been a hot topic for discussion this last month, with both the sides trying to prove themselves right. Facebook wanted to launch its plan called "Free Basics", where there was a proposal of providing people who cannot afford the internet, free access to a set of websites and a few internet based services. This was being opposed by the advocates of net neutrality, who had conflicting beliefs and said that this initiative was in violation of net neutrality. The decision on this issue was to be made by the TRAI, which received a lot of petitions from both the sides.

Interestingly, TRAI's new open internet policy has some affects on US too as it has increased the pressure on US regulators to address a glaring loophole in US federal policy that allows telecom companies to sidestep rules designed to preserve the internet’s open and freewheeling nature.

TRAI recently came out with a new policy banning "Zero rating" in India. Zero Rating is a practice where mobile operators do not charge end customers for data used by certain application or service, kind of like the toll-free numbers we have. TRAI also banned differential pricing, where a service or product is priced differently based on the user. This stopped the wheels of the Free Basics program of Facebook, leaving them little or no choice at all, which eventually resulted in Free Basics being withdrawn from India.

There is still some debate regarding internet.org or Free basics but as of now they have been shut out of India pertaining to the recent changes in the policies by TRAI. The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg expressed his disappointment in a Facebook post about these new regulations imposed by TRAI, but he went on say that this doesn't dishearten them and that the team will keep fighting to bring connectivity in India and across the world. This is a moment of victory for all the supporters of net neutrality and the Save The Internet initiative in India. But this doesn't eradicate the concerns that people still have regarding the internet and such services. Then again,t his is just the beginning, the TRAI is working on more rules and regulations regarding net neutrality and similar issues in the hope of actually saving the internet.