Satellites, drones and Wi-Fi: This is how Facebook wants to cover the world with Internet
Facebook’s idea is clearly to eliminate all obstacles that prevent new users from accessing the Internet and, of course, its own services
Late last month when Facebook renamed its free Internet services as Free Basics, the social networking giant was making clear that Internet.org meant much more than an app offering free access to a bunch of websites. Facebook has other plans for the Internet, much bigger plans.
Facebook’s idea is clearly to eliminate all obstacles that prevent new users from accessing the Internet and, of course, its own services. Free Basics is an attempt to bring down the affordability barrier that exists in many countries.
The other barrier that Facebook wants to eliminate is technology and it is working across the globe on technologies that brings Internet to remote parts of the world. In India, it has pioneered an ambitious Express Wi-FI programme that brings affordable Internet to a community level with Facebook plugging the technology gap and its local Internet service provider partners helping out with data.
Munish Seth, Country Manager-Connectivity Solutions India region, says they are using the old cable operator model to get Express Wi-Fi working. “We use commercially available Wi-Fi access point technology with software developed by us to help the local entrepreneur manage his customers and for the customers to electronically buy Internet usage for as low as Rs 10,” he explains, adding that the target has been entry-level phones.
Seth says his team helps the local entrepreneur with technology, business solutions and marketing. In this model, implemented now in over a 100 villages across India, users come to a community area to access the Internet.
However, the more ambitious project is to make connectivity ubiquitous. Just last week, Facebook announced its intention to launch a satellite in partnership with France’s Eutelsat Communications to bring Internet access to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Part of the Internet.org platform, AMOS-6 is under construction and will be launched in 2016.
Also under construction is Aquila, a solar powered plane with the wingspan of a Boeing 737. Yael Macguire of Facebook’s connectivity lab calls it a “crazy idea” and says the unmanned aircraft will be solar-powered and this will let is stay up for months on end. The cruising altitude will be around 60,000 feet (18km), much above commercial aircraft, and this will give it a footprint of 100 km diameter.
“We want the airplanes to be where the people are. If they are not, then they are not being used effectively and the cost goes up. It is really important that they can station keep, or stay in a particular region and connect a particular people,” Macguire told IndianExpress.com. “They will move, but around a small zone. When the plane moves the RF system will adjust so that it keep having the same terrestrial footprint.” In fact, the first full-scale Aquila has been completed in under 14 months and tests are now on.
So while these aircraft try and create a grid of connectivity, there will also be dark spots without connectivity in areas with no substantial population. Those areas could be fed by the satellite. But Facebook’s plan if very different from the postman type internet strategy that some others are working on. Macguire says this is because Facebook does not want some people to have a different type of Internet or broadband experience where they are not connected all the time.
The concept seems to be to have multiple grid layers — like the aircraft powered grid overlapping on the Express Wi-Fi grid on the ground. “We want to make sure that various Express W-Fi networks are interconnected. The UAVs, meanwhile, will provide the equivalent of the microwave backhaul. We think of these of building blocks to ensure it is a robust network,” explains Macguire.
Macguire says most of the people who need connectivity are already near the cities which have the optical networks. “So one of the ideas we are exploring is to use a laser system to intereconnect these planes,” he says, adding that lasers are cheaper as they don’t come under the regulatory framework and have lots of bandwidth. However, there are challenges too. “For instance, we have to be able to hit what is the size of a Rupee from 17.7 km away to be able to interlink the UAVs,” Macguire underlines the challenges ahead. In the labs the team has been able to achieve 10x of existing state of the art data speeds and capacities.
But with these kind of plans, it is only natural that we see Facebook running internet services across the world. But Chris Daniels of Internet.org is categorical that Facebook does not want to become a service provider, while Macguire chips in that becoming a UAV or statellite company is also ruled out.
However, not everyone is convinced. Academic and tech guru Vivek Wadhwa says in a scenario where Google’s Loon and Facebook’s satellites and drones start covering the world with free Wi-Fi in three or four years, traditional telecom service providers will be more than threatened. “They will start screaming at the governments that they will go bankrupt. If you have Wi-Fi everywhere no one is going to use their services,” he says. Wadhwa sees regulatory battles ahead which will be much greater than what we have seen over Net Neutrality. “After all, this could wipe out the entire telecom industry.”
Source : indianexpress
Facebook’s idea is clearly to eliminate all obstacles that prevent new users from accessing the Internet and, of course, its own services
Late last month when Facebook renamed its free Internet services as Free Basics, the social networking giant was making clear that Internet.org meant much more than an app offering free access to a bunch of websites. Facebook has other plans for the Internet, much bigger plans.
Facebook’s idea is clearly to eliminate all obstacles that prevent new users from accessing the Internet and, of course, its own services. Free Basics is an attempt to bring down the affordability barrier that exists in many countries.
The other barrier that Facebook wants to eliminate is technology and it is working across the globe on technologies that brings Internet to remote parts of the world. In India, it has pioneered an ambitious Express Wi-FI programme that brings affordable Internet to a community level with Facebook plugging the technology gap and its local Internet service provider partners helping out with data.
Munish Seth, Country Manager-Connectivity Solutions India region, says they are using the old cable operator model to get Express Wi-Fi working. “We use commercially available Wi-Fi access point technology with software developed by us to help the local entrepreneur manage his customers and for the customers to electronically buy Internet usage for as low as Rs 10,” he explains, adding that the target has been entry-level phones.
Seth says his team helps the local entrepreneur with technology, business solutions and marketing. In this model, implemented now in over a 100 villages across India, users come to a community area to access the Internet.
However, the more ambitious project is to make connectivity ubiquitous. Just last week, Facebook announced its intention to launch a satellite in partnership with France’s Eutelsat Communications to bring Internet access to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Part of the Internet.org platform, AMOS-6 is under construction and will be launched in 2016.
Also under construction is Aquila, a solar powered plane with the wingspan of a Boeing 737. Yael Macguire of Facebook’s connectivity lab calls it a “crazy idea” and says the unmanned aircraft will be solar-powered and this will let is stay up for months on end. The cruising altitude will be around 60,000 feet (18km), much above commercial aircraft, and this will give it a footprint of 100 km diameter.
“We want the airplanes to be where the people are. If they are not, then they are not being used effectively and the cost goes up. It is really important that they can station keep, or stay in a particular region and connect a particular people,” Macguire told IndianExpress.com. “They will move, but around a small zone. When the plane moves the RF system will adjust so that it keep having the same terrestrial footprint.” In fact, the first full-scale Aquila has been completed in under 14 months and tests are now on.
So while these aircraft try and create a grid of connectivity, there will also be dark spots without connectivity in areas with no substantial population. Those areas could be fed by the satellite. But Facebook’s plan if very different from the postman type internet strategy that some others are working on. Macguire says this is because Facebook does not want some people to have a different type of Internet or broadband experience where they are not connected all the time.
The concept seems to be to have multiple grid layers — like the aircraft powered grid overlapping on the Express Wi-Fi grid on the ground. “We want to make sure that various Express W-Fi networks are interconnected. The UAVs, meanwhile, will provide the equivalent of the microwave backhaul. We think of these of building blocks to ensure it is a robust network,” explains Macguire.
Macguire says most of the people who need connectivity are already near the cities which have the optical networks. “So one of the ideas we are exploring is to use a laser system to intereconnect these planes,” he says, adding that lasers are cheaper as they don’t come under the regulatory framework and have lots of bandwidth. However, there are challenges too. “For instance, we have to be able to hit what is the size of a Rupee from 17.7 km away to be able to interlink the UAVs,” Macguire underlines the challenges ahead. In the labs the team has been able to achieve 10x of existing state of the art data speeds and capacities.
But with these kind of plans, it is only natural that we see Facebook running internet services across the world. But Chris Daniels of Internet.org is categorical that Facebook does not want to become a service provider, while Macguire chips in that becoming a UAV or statellite company is also ruled out.
However, not everyone is convinced. Academic and tech guru Vivek Wadhwa says in a scenario where Google’s Loon and Facebook’s satellites and drones start covering the world with free Wi-Fi in three or four years, traditional telecom service providers will be more than threatened. “They will start screaming at the governments that they will go bankrupt. If you have Wi-Fi everywhere no one is going to use their services,” he says. Wadhwa sees regulatory battles ahead which will be much greater than what we have seen over Net Neutrality. “After all, this could wipe out the entire telecom industry.”
Source : indianexpress
No comments:
Post a Comment