Facebook has relaunched Facebook Lite, a simplified version of its mobile app originally released in 2009 designed for use on low-end Android devices in emerging markets, where the operating system dominates.

The app has been built with lower specification devices in mind, coming in at just 252 KB and able to operate on poor quality internet connections and 2G networks. It is based on Snaptu, the firms feature phone client, but has been expanded to incorporate some native Android features including camera integration and push notifications.

According to TechCrunch, the app was quietly launched in a number of Asian and African countries over the weekend, including Bangladesh, Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, with a view to expanding into more markets if Facebook believe its worth pursuing.

Despite Facebook recently re-tooling its standard Android app to make it work better with lower-spec phones, Facebook is not done trying to raise its profile in developing economies. The Facebook Lite project, combined with its Internet.org initiative to bring free limited internet services to emerging markets, sees the company trying to establish a foothold among the next billion internet users.

“For some time now, Facebooks own figures have revealed that the social giant is reaching saturation point in the US and many Western markets,” said Marco Veremis, CEO of Upstream. “For example, of the estimated 353m people in North America there are currently 202m monthly users on Facebook already. Therefore its no surprise that the social network is turning its attention to emerging markets for its next billion users and these regions are already showing potential – with usage in Asia increasing 26 per cent year on year from the second quarter of 2013 to 2014.”