Facebook may have to create new technologies if it is to make the internet available in all of the world’s undeveloped areas, the firm’s co-founder has said.
Earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg announced that the Californian social giant is partnering with aerospace engineers from NASA to test the Wi-Fi powers of a number of technologies but suggested that innovation may be necessary.
The Facebook team will be working alongside the space travel organisation’s Jet Propulsion Lab on the ‘Connectivity Lab’ project, with experts from its Ames Research Center also involved.
The announcement marks the latest move in the company’s Internet.org initiative. The scheme was established with the aim of providing internet access for billions of people across the world. The focus of the project has largely been on Africa and Asia, where connectivity is particularly poor, reuters.com reports.
The drive has seen Facebook work closely with a number of telecoms companies around the world to bring prices down. Mr Zuckerberg was quoted by time.com as saying: “We’re going to continue building these partnerships, but connecting the whole world will require inventing new technology too.”
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the social network has officially reached the one billion-user mark. The company hopes that the Internet.org project will help build on this.
