Connecting To The Rest Of The World
There was a Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona this week, in which many companies explained their plan to increase the number of people uses their internet services. The most common approach is by reaching out to the billions of people who currently do not have internet access. As usual, Google and Facebook are making great attempts to reach those billions.
Google’s plan to provide internet access to currently un-reached areas is Project Loon. Project Loon is a system of hot-air balloons, place 12 miles in the atmosphere, each with the power to provide internet access to an area the size of Rhode Island. These are much cheaper and much easier to build than cell towers. Facebook’s plan is Internet.org, which is a set standard for internet services, that would make it easier for new phone carriers to have a low-bandwidth system while still having access to important apps and information.
If Google’s and Facebook’s projects succeed they could reach 4-5 billion people in five years. This will launch them even farther ahead in the internet industry, making it even harder for other companies to compete against them.
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