Facebook introduces terrestrial connectivity systems for internet-dead zones

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Facebook rolls out two new terrestrial systems to connect the internet-dead zones of the world.

Terragraph and Antenna Radio Integration for Efficiency in Spectrum (ARIES) are the two ground based technologies which will connect the people across the world where the networks are routinely jammed or have zero access to any cell towers or fiber optics cable.

This announcement was made at a two-day F8 conference in San Fransisco, US this week where the social network giant unveiled its grand plan of connecting every person on the planet with fast, efficient and high bandwidth internet.

According to a Forbes report, Facebook is mainly focusing the rural population of developing economies, including India.

Terragraph, a 60GHz wireless system aims to bring high speed internet to the dense urban areas of the developing countries. Facebook is currently testing the system at its headquarters and plans to test the system soon in the city of San Jose, California, the report added.

Facebook also launched ARIES -- a base station with 96 antennas that can support 24 devices or streams simultaneously over the same radio spectrum -- can cover more users across large, rural areas by using multiple transmitters and receivers.
Facebook is working diligently on a bunch of other connectivity plans like its Internet-beaming drone Aquila, satellites, lasers and Free Basics, a program that is banned in India after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ruled against it and opted for net neutrality in February this year.

However Facebook claims that Free Basics is serving billions of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

(With inputs from Forbes)