Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced plans to launch a satellite into orbit in order to provide remote parts of Africa with internet connection.
Working in collaboration with French satellite operations firm Eutelsat Communications, Facebook hope to provide sub-Saharan Africa with internet connection via the Israeli built AMOS-6 satellite. Facebook then plans to work with local partners or service providers to ensure communities can get online. In a statement, Eutelsat said connectivity would be available via ‘off-the-shelf customer equipment’, although no details about price or further information was available.
This latest project is just one part of Facebook’s Internet.org initiative, which seeks to get more people online by working with the leading names in technology, non-profit organisations, and local businesses and communities. Internet.org has so far released free applications providing information about health care, education and job opportunities. The service has seen wide-spread use in India, Latin America and Asia. However, the service has been criticised for potentially violating net neutrality by prioritising Facebook applications and limiting users to a “walled garden” of certain services rather than the whole internet. So far, this service may be the first to result in a cost for the end user.
Speaking about the project, Mark Zuckerberg stated in a Facebook post: “Over the last year Facebook has been exploring ways to use aircraft and satellites to beam internet access down into communities from the sky. To connect people living in remote regions, traditional connectivity infrastructure is often difficult and inefficient, so we need to invent new technologies.”
Satellite internet is not a new technology. It has existed for many years, though often with poor latency or speed for users. Facebook and Eutelsat seem to hope this new technology will avoid those problems and provide a suitable, stable connection. It is hoped that bringing internet connectivity to regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa will improve business as well as quality of life for the populations.
Should all go to plan, Facebook hope to have the satellite launched and functional by the second half of 2016.