Facebook announced today that it will partner with the French satellite provider Eutelsat to beam free Internet to Africa. This development marks another step in Mark Zuckerberg's Internet.org initiative - a plan to draw as many potential users onto the Internet as possible.
Starting in the second half of 2016, Facebook and Eutelsat will use capacity on AMOS-6, a satellite from Israeli company Spacecom that is due to launch by the end of this year, to beam internet connections directly to smartphones in parts of West, East and Southern Africa.
"Facebook's mission is to connect the world and we believe that satellites will play an important role in addressing the significant barriers that exist in connecting the people of Africa," said Chris Daniels, the head of internet.org.
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