Facebook Set to bring Free Internet Access to Developing Nations
1 min readFacebook’s desire to bring internet, and its social network, to the world has just been taken up a notch.
Having already started trialling its high-flying internet drones that will bring wireless internet access to the developing world, the internet giant is now working on specialist internet supplying helicopters.
The autonomous machines are for use closer to home, however, and will one day take to the skies above urban settings.
The small helicopters, known as Tether-tenna, will deliver free internet to areas where natural disasters have wiped out the existing infrastructure.
“One of Facebook’s goals is to not only connect communities, but to connect them when they need it most,” Facebook’s Yael Maguire wrote in an official blog post.
He added: “When completed, this technology will be able to be deployed immediately and operate for months at a time to bring back connectivity in case of an emergency – ensuring the local community can stay connected while the in-ground connectivity is under repair.”
The tethered helicopters will fly “a few hundred feet from the ground” and transmit a wireless signal to a broader area.
