Facebook and Eutelsat have announced plans to build satellite technologies to get more Africans online just months after the firm announced its solar-powered drones are ready to beam internet to millions of people in marginalized areas in sub-Saharan Africa.
Set to start in the second half of 2016, the two will be working with Spacecom, to build a satellite and a dedicated system comprising satellite capacity, gateways and terminals with high gain spot beams covering large parts of West, East and Southern Africa for community and Direct-to-User Internet access.
This move is in line with Facebook’s Internet.org, aimed at connecting billions who are offline to super-fast and affordable internet. Facebook plans to work with local partners across Africa to utilise satellite and terrestrial capacity to deliver services to rural areas.
“Facebook’s mission is to connect the world and we believe that satellites will play an important role in addressing the significant barriers that exist in connecting the people of Africa,” said Chris Daniels, VP of Internet.org. “We are looking forward to partnering with Eutelsat on this project and investigating new ways to use satellites to connect people in the most remote areas of the world more efficiently.”
