Facebook will bring free Internet to sub-Saharan Africa with a satellite

Facebook just put some serious satellite oomph behind its Internet.org initiative, which aims to bring basic Internet access to developing countries

The company has partnered with French-based satellite operator Eutelsat in an attempt to deliver free Internet to sub-Saharan Africa using an AMOS-6 satellite, Eutelsat announced Monday.

Facebook and Eutelsat signed a multi-year agreement with Israel-based satellite operator Spacecom; they plan to utilize the "entire broadband payload" of the satellite. AMOS-6 is scheduled to become operational in the second half of 2016. The AMOS-6 is a geostationary satellite whose Ka-band spot beams will provide broadband Internet to individual users and communities using affordable equipment. Read more...