In a respectable attempt to provide access to the Internet throughout hard-to-reach places, Facebook is scheduling a satellite launch this 2016 that aims to make the World Wide Web readily accessible to people living in remote parts of Africa.
Mark Zuckerberg, as mentioned on his Facebook post, will be partnering with French-based satellite provider Eutelsat for this project.
He also states how the mission is just one in a series of innovations he is organizing with Internet.org to "connect millions of people" through the use of new technologies since conventional methods will prove to be "difficult and inefficient."
The satellite entrusted with the lucrative mission is the AMOS-6 geostationary satellite, which Eutelsat revealed on a press release that was published last Monday on their site.
The company believes that their satellite networks should be "well suited to economically connecting people in low to medium density population areas" and "is expected to contribute to additional gains in cost efficiency."
According to Western Daily Press, the scheme that Facebook concocted with Internet.org was also a result of a partnership struck with mobile carriers across South America, Asia, and Africa to bring the Internet to places that are currently beyond reach to mobile users.
The satellite is reported to be currently under construction and is set to launch in 2016. Michel de Rosen, Chairman and CEO of Eutelsat, shares how the company is "excited by [the] opportunity" and that their "strong track record in operating High Throughput Satellite systems will ensure that [they] can deliver accessible and robust Internet solutions to get more users online and part of the Information Society."
Facebook and Internet.org aren't the only companies who have jumped on the internet-by-satellite bandwagon. Satellite internet providers such as Exede and HughesNet have long been in operation to provide people with online access to the "Information Society", but it's only now that two Internet bigwigs are teaming up with their eyes set on connecting Africa with the rest of the online world.
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