Facebook
said it would launch a satellite in partnership with France’s Eutelsat
Communications to bring Internet access to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
The satellite, part of Facebook’s
Internet.org platform to expand internet access mainly via mobile phones, is
under construction and will be launched in 2016, the companies said on Monday.
The satellite, called
AMOS-6, will cover large parts of West, East and Southern Africa, Facebook
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. The project will be
conducted under his Internet.org initiative that aims to bring Internet
access to the two-thirds of the world that have been unable to receive it.
Among other projects include using solar-powered drones to beam out Internet signals to rural
areas, and the set-up of the Innovation Lab to mimic
real-world connectivity issues for developers to test their app’s performance.
“To connect people living in remote regions,
traditional connectivity infrastructure is often difficult and inefficient, so
we need to invent new technologies,” Zuckerberg said.
"Over
the last year Facebook has been exploring ways to use aircraft and satellites
to beam internet access down into communities from the sky," Mr Zuckerberg
wrote.
In a statement,
Eutelsat said users on the ground would be able to use "off the
shelf" products to access the service when it launches in the second half
of 2016.
"The
capacity is optimised for community and Direct-to-User Internet access using
affordable, off-the-shelf customer equipment," the company said.
"Eutelsat and Facebook will each deploy Internet services
designed to relieve pent-up demand for connectivity from the many users in
Africa beyond range of fixed and mobile terrestrial networks."
Facebook has nearly 20
million users in major African markets Nigeria and Kenya, statistics released
by it showed last month, with a majority using mobile devices to access their
profiles.The company opened its first African office in Johannesburg in June.
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