According to the Wall Street Journal, Google plans to spend at least $1bn on 180 satellites to link unconnected areas of the world to the Internet. In April, Google purchased Titan Aerospace, a drone manufacturer capable of creating high-altitude solar-powered drones to provide Internet signals down to the Earth. This is a relatively new undertaking; in 2013 Google also started its Project Loon, which uses giant balloons as high-altitude Internet service providers (ISP).
Facebook has also been working to achieve the same goal. It has been working with scientists in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and Ames Research Center, and recently purchased Ascenta, a UK-based company that manufactures solar-powered drones (Forbes).
The first company to reach the Internet-less areas of the world will essentially be filling a vacuum that would allow their brand to be dominant in a large new market. Both companies seem to prefer satellite Internet…
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