Facebook plans to launch a satellite that will provide internet access to remote parts of Africa, the social network’s founder Mark Zuckerberg announced on his page.
The satellite which is 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.
As part of our collaboration with Eutelsat, a new satellite called AMOS-6 is going to provide internet coverage to large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The AMOS-6 satellite is under construction and will launch in 2016 into a geostationary orbit that will cover large parts of West, East and Southern Africa. Mark Zuckerberg said in his post.
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.
According to Facebook statistics released last month, the social app has nearly 20 million users in major African markets; Nigeria and Kenya. Majority of the users are using mobile devices to access their profiles.
