Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) is teaming up with European satellite operator Eutelsat Communications to leverage satellite technologies for getting more Africans online.
Under a multi-year agreement with Spacecom, the two companies will use the entire broadband payload on the future AMOS-6 satellite and will build a dedicated system comprising satellite capacity, gateways and terminals.
Scheduled to start service in the second half of 2016, the Ka-band payload on the AMOS-6 geostationary satellite is configured with high gain spot beams covering large parts of West, East and Southern Africa. The capacity is optimized for community and direct-to-user Internet access using off-the-shelf customer equipment, the companies say. The high throughput satellite architecture of AMOS-6 also is expected to contribute to gains in cost efficiency. Article