Facebook to launch SATELLITE to provide free internet access to remote parts of Africa

Mark Zuckerberg revealed the news in a Facebook post

FACEBOOK will launch a satellite to provide free internet access to remote parts of Africa, founder Mark Zuckerberg has revealed.

 

The satellite, called AMOS-6, will be ready for launch into space next year, the billionaire revealed in a post on the site.

It is being developed with French firm Eutelsat and could "connect millions of people" in hard-to-reach areas, he added.

He wrote: "Connectivity changes lives and communities. We're going to keep working to connect the entire world – even if that means looking beyond our planet."

 

The ground-breaking project is part of the company's free mobile data scheme Internet.org, which aims to get the entire planet online.

Earlier this year the company tested solar-powered drones which could beam internet signal from the skies above the UK.

But Internet.org has come under fire from digital rights groups in countries including Uganda, Ecuador and Indonesia over net-neutrality concerns.

 

The satellite is being developed with French firm Eutelsat

Mr Zuckerberg added: "I'm excited to announce our first project to deliver internet from space.

"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.

"The AMOS-6 satellite is under construction now and will launch in 2016 into a geostationary orbit that will cover large parts of West, East and Southern Africa.

"We're going to work with local partners across these regions to help communities begin accessing internet services provided through satellite."

 

It will provide free internet access to remote parts of Africa

Eutelsat said users would be able to access the internet from the satellite on "affordable, off-the-shelf customer equipment" from the second half of next year.

The Internet.org scheme was created alongside partnering mobile carriers in Africa, Asia and South America to bring some internet access to parts of the world where it was restricted.

Selected services – including Wikipedia, BBC News, Facebook and some local news providers – were made available via the scheme's app without any data charge applying.

But in an open letter sent in May, 67 online rights' groups said the project threatened the principle of net neutrality because only selected services could take advantage of it.