Facebook to launch satellite to expand Internet access in Africa

[RUCCI]

Facebook Inc 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.

"To connect people living in remote regions, traditional connectivity infrastructure is often difficult and inefficient, so we need to invent new technologies," Zuckerberg said.

The Internet.org platform offers free access to pared-down web services, focused on job listings, agricultural information, healthcare and education, as well as Facebook's own social network and messaging services.

Growth in the number of people with access to the Internet is slowing, and more than half the world's population is still offline, the United Nations Broadband Commission said last month.

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.

Tech news website The Information reported in June that Facebook had abandoned plans to build a satellite to provide Internet service to continents such as Africa.

Source: Facebook to launch satellite to expand Internet access in Africa

 

[NullPointer]

Hii ni good move kwa wananchi, japo si good move kwa serikali, sababu kama watatoa free internet access, mitandao itapoteza pesa ndefu sana coz najua tu watu wengi watahama, na hata kama wanaruhusu internet.org peke yake still inaweza chakachulika tu ili kukupa access na sites nyingine kwa ku-tunnel all traffic through sites zinazoruhusiwa.. Labda iwe slow sana...

Ina advantages zake nyingi, tatizo ni serikali tu itakosa mshiko....

 

[Steven Robert Masatu]

Wakuu kuna nini huku, mbona project zote ni ukanda huu huu?

 

[for life]

huwa wanafanyia majaribio kwanza hku mkuu ikitiki ndo inakuwa worldwide

 

[MATHIAS KABYEMERA]

acha watu wafebukuke!!