Google, Facebook take to the sky to connect the world
Titan Aerospace is developing a massive solar-powered drone that can fly nonstop for five years. © Courtesy of Titan Aerospace/AP
SILICON VALLEY -- U.S. tech giants Google and Facebook are taking their competition to new heights. Both have announced plans to offer wireless Internet services in developing countries via unmanned aircraft.
"Atmospheric satellites could help bring Internet access to millions of people," Google said in its announcement on April 14 that it was buying Titan Aerospace, an unmanned aircraft venture company based in the U.S. state of New Mexico.
Established in 2012, the start up of about 20 employees has been developing the Solara unmanned aircraft for use as a telecom base station in the sky. The drone would have a wingspan of more than 50 meters and be covered in solar panels, allowing it to carry communications equipment at roughly 20,000 meters nonstop, for five years.
Google's purchase of Titan Aerospace has given the tech giant a major tool for providing Internet connectivity from the sky to people who currently do not have access. Last year it launched an initiative called Project Loon. Its goal is to offer Internet connections via high-altitude balloons equipped with solar cells and communications equipment. The project has been conducting tests in New Zealand and elsewhere.
Looking up for downloads
Facebook, meanwhile, announced on March 27 that it established Connectivity Lab, which will study technologies for enabling Internet connections via drones and satellites. Facebook recruited the entire staff of Ascenta, a five-person U.K. drone start up, to be core members of this lab.
Ascenta, a U.K. developer of solar-powered drones such as this one pictured, has been acquired by Facebook. © Courtesy of Facebook
According to U.S. news reports, Facebook had considered acquiring Titan Aerospace, but ultimately decided to turn to Ascenta because the U.K. company had a track record in developing high-altitude drones.
Connectivity Lab has also recruited experts from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames Research Center, as well as the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in the U.S. Connectivity Lab's research areas cover drones, satellites and free space optical communication, which uses light to transmit data through space.
The lab will also work closely with Internet.org, an organization set up last year by Facebook, Qualcomm of the U.S., Samsung Electronics of South Korea, Nokia of Finland and three other tech companies.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the organization's goal "is to make affordable access to basic Internet services available to every person in the world."
The next frontier -- Africa
The idea of offering Internet connections from the sky is not new. Multiple plans for using low-altitude communications satellites to deliver Internet access have been proposed since the 1990s. Teledesic, a company whose backers included Microsoft founder Bill Gates, was an proponent of one such plan. But none of the plans reached the commercialization stage as they were unable to overcome certain challenges, such as doubts about profitability.
There is no guarantee that Google and Facebook will succeed. But both have a strong motivator for taking these efforts seriously -- two-thirds of the world's population still lacks Internet access.
Google's sales in areas outside the U.S. and the U.K. exceeded those in the U.S. for the first time last year. More than 80% of Facebook users live outside North America. Customer growth for both companies in the developed world is slowing, which means new customers need to be found elsewhere.
Last year, the Oxford Internet Institute released a map of the world called "Age of Internet Empires" that shows the most popular website for each country. Google has 63 countries, mostly Western nations. Facebook has 50, many in Latin America and the Middle East.
The fiercest competition between Google and Facebook for sky-based Internet will likely be over Africa. The continent has more than 1 billion people and there is an emerging middle class with an ever-increasing demand for Internet services.
The first company to satisfy the online access needs of Africa will likely also become the top provider on the continent. The aerial fight over Africa could easily change the power balance of the Internet empires.
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