By Mwakilishi
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduces the new Messenger platform at the F8 summit in San Francisco, California, on March 25..
Facebook has begun taking steps to beam free high-speed Internet to the remote parts of Kenya in a move likely to scare local telecommunications firms.
Together with French-based satellite provider Eutelsat, the two firms will accelerate data connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on Kenya and Nigeria.
“I am excited to announce our first project to deliverInternet from space as part of our internet.org programme to connect the world,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement Tuesday.
INTERNET.ORG
The satellite programme will rely on Facebook’s internet.org platform, which has sparked controversy for not reaching its target audience worldwide.
The application allows users to freely access the web for a limited amount of time, but some websites will be blocked.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s excitement over Kenya, which has 2.2 million people active on the site daily, might not last long.
LOCAL TELCOS AFRAID
Telecommunication firms like Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Kenya see its involvement in data as a big threat to their voice and data business.
Airtel CEO Adil EL Youssefi srgues that the government must come up with ways of regulating apps like Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber since they could be the beginning of the fall of telcos.
This is because they offer similar services but ride on infrastructure deployed by local telcos.
Facebook plans to bring its satellite services to Kenya and other targeted countries by mid-2016.
The connectivity is powerful and connects users beyond the range of fixed and mobile terrestrial networks.
HUMAN RIGHT
Zuckerberg has lobbied for a campaign that will see the United Nations urge governments worldwide to classify access to the Internet as a basic human right
acebook had begun a call to partner with telcos in its internet.org initiative, but local firms remained mute on the subject.
This followed worldwide criticism, with nearly 70 advocacy groups writing to Zuckerberg arguing that the platform violates international set standards on theInternet and that it is insecure.
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