After Google, Facebook to allow offline video viewing in India

Facebook is following Google’s YouTube feature to allow users to download videos and view them offline. The feature, which is aimed at improving usage in regions with poor mobile network connectivity, will be rolled out on Monday for a small percentage of Facebook’s 142 million users in India.

India suffers from spotty mobile data connectivity and paying for large data packs still remains out of reach of many consumers, making it the perfect testing ground for such a feature. Google too chose India as the first site to roll out YouTube’s offline video viewing capability.

US technology website TechCrunch reported this development first.

The company launched Facebook Lite, a barebones version of its mobile app, to work on ultra-low end smartphones and use minimal data.

The new feature fits Facebook’s recent move to better serve users in emerging markets. It goes a step further in enabling people to use the app even when offline.

India’s mobile data infrastructure has turned out to be one of the biggest bottlenecks in growing penetration of smartphones. Developers are looking at ways of navigating this despite the prospect of a massive 4G rollout that’s being undertaken by companies such as Reliance Jio and Airtel.

“People are coming online at a staggering rate in emerging markets and, in most cases, are doing so on mobile,” a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We’re continuing to improve Facebook so it works seamlessly and easily for people in all parts of the world, regardless of their device.”

At Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, the company has a section where developers are starved of high-speed mobile data connectivity, in order to mimic how users in emerging markets feel using its service. The move is aimed at allowing developers to understand who they’re building apps for and how to make them work better across the world.

Overtaking the US to become the second largest Internet user base in the world, India today has around 400 million netizens, largely fueled by the falling costs of smartphones. Over three-fourths of all Internet users in India access the web via mobile, making the country the first truly mobile-only nation.

Facebook, in its efforts to tap this growth, had launched FreeBasics, a free-of-cost service that gave users access to select online services. Eventually, after being accused of building a walled garden around its own service, the move was banned by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on the grounds of infringing on net neutrality.