Facebook To Deliver Internet To Sub-Saharan Africa Via Satellite

[applegrove]

Facebook To Deliver Internet To Sub-Saharan Africa Via Satellite

by Lauren C. Williams at Think Progress

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/10/05/3709016/facebook-to-deliver-internet-to-sub-saharan-africa-via-satellite/

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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg first announced plans to expand free internet access to the world’s poorest countries in 2013 by rolling out the Internet.org mobila app — a collection of media organizations, Wikipedia, and, of course, Facebook its personal messaging app that provide free access and content through a partnership with local telecom companies.

The company’s new partnership will be its first venture away from the mobile-only internet access that relies on telecom companies’ cell towers. Less than 20 percent of sub-Saharan Africans are online, according to Facebook’s connectivity report, and only 53 percent of can afford to browse the internet for up to two hours a month. By 2016, 14 countries in East, West, and Southern Africa will have access beamed to their mobile devices courtesy of Eutelast and Israeli-based global satellite communications company AMOS by Spacecom.

Africa was the genesis of Internet.org, with Zambia being the first country to receive the service in 2014. Since then, Facebook has introduced packaged internet content to more than a billion people in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Columbia, and India.

But despite the company’s noble ambitions, the program has hit obstacles particularly regarding Internet.org’s debut in India earlier this year when users criticized Facebook for violating the principles of net neutrality — equal access to internet content without preferential treatment or extra costs to visit certain sites.



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