Facebook revealed that it’s working on boosting the quality and scope of its Express Wi-Fi platform and has started developing software that simplifies network management for operators and enables them to deploy mesh Wi-Fi networks. The company launched Express Wi-Fi in India, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Indonesia back in 2016 to help reach 3.8 billion people in the world that are still not connected to the internet. However, local ISPs and entrepreneurs have encountered difficulties managing the many network devices and ensuring the network has adequate and reliable backhaul capacity to the broader internet.
In early 2017, Facebook began testing some possible solutions to these problems with a view to allowing multiple Wi-Fi access points to mesh with each other, exchange information and carry backhaul traffic without requiring a separate physical backhaul connection at each place an operator might want to provide access. The team working on these solutions has grown to include engineers in the US, Europe and Israel, said the company in a statement.
Facebook said teams in Israel, Ireland and Dubai have been working with partners to plan and deploy Express Wi-Fi, with the mesh technology currently being tested with local partner Habari Node in Tanzania. “The technology we are developing is pushing the boundaries of what's possible for Wi-Fi networks,” said the company, adding that it’s also working on a new routing framework optimised for large-scale Wi-Fi mesh networks at its Menlo Park, California headquarters, with up to 50 access points.
