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Facebook Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg Announces 2016 Launch of Internet-Beaming Satellite

A new satellite called Amos-6 is going to provide internet coverage to large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. It’s currently under construction and will launch in 2016 into a geostationary orbit. Meanwhile, you just liked three Facebook posts.
A new satellite called Amos-6 is going to provide internet coverage to large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa 5 photos
Photo: Facebook
Facebook Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg Announces 2016 Launch of Internet-Beaming SatelliteFacebook Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg Announces 2016 Launch of Internet-Beaming SatelliteFacebook Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg Announces 2016 Launch of Internet-Beaming SatelliteFacebook Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg Announces 2016 Launch of Internet-Beaming Satellite
Mark Zuckerberg is a man of his word, apparently. He’s been calling out to the world claiming that there still are too many people out there offline and that one of the plans he cares for a lot is doing something about it. Everything is related to Facebook’s Internet.org initiative, which aims to bring basic access to developing countries.

We have told you about the project before when an internet-beaming drone - also part of the project - was officially unveiled. The social network giant has now partnered up with French satellite operator Eutelsat. They want to provide free Internet to sub-Saharan Africa using the Amos-6 satellite. The two companies have signed a multi-year agreement with Israel-based satellite operator Sapcecom, as they plan to utilize the “entire broadband payload”.

Mark Zuckerberg has just announced that the satellite is currently under construction and will launch next year into a geostationary orbit. It will cover large parts of West, East and Southern Africa. The company’s plan is to collaborate with local partners across these regions to help communities begin accessing internet services provided by satellite.

Let’s stop for a second here. What does that mean exactly? Does it suggest that people will eventually end up paying for the internet service? Theoretically no since it's supposed to be a free service, but if those local companies somehow limit the access, then things may end up harder than initially planned.

This is just one of the innovations we’re working on to achieve our mission with Internet.org. Connectivity changes lives and communities. We’re going to keep working to connect the entire world - even if that means looking beyond our planet,” Zuckerberg wrote on his own Facebook account.
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