Facebook's "small target": the 500 miles in Africa fibre-Facebook-IT information

Facebook has developed a new plan to let more Africans online, it plans the company in laying nearly 500 miles of fiber in Africa.

Facebook announced on Monday that in Uganda before the end of this year, the company plans laying nearly 500 miles of fiber. It believes this infrastructure allows Internet access in Africa increased to more than 3 million people.

But Facebook does not plan to provide your own wireless network, but will cooperate with the BCS and Airtel to provide Internet access services. It said the fibre base station for mobile operators to provide additional support. It also said that companies are willing to cooperate with other network providers.

According to people familiar with the matter said, three organizations were involved in the project provided financial support for the project, but it was unclear how much funding they provide.

In order to let more Africans have Internet access, Facebook has taken a series of measures over the past two years, laying fiber is just one of the. Facebook aims to keep everyone around the world can use the social network, but cannot be achieved, because a significant portion of people unable to access the Internet.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg) has been working to change this situation, whether laying infrastructure for the company to take other initiatives, are designed to reduce the cost of wireless data services.

For example, Facebook in India provide free Internet service for some users, but due to problems involving net neutrality by Indian regulators, free Internet access was blocked.

Facebook development starting from 2015 solar-powered UAV, wants to use unmanned aerial vehicles from the sky for people with Internet access in remote areas. It last June completed the first test flight of the unmanned, but drones blow up during landing. But as far as we know, use drones to provide Internet services remains one of Facebook's long-term plans.

The laying optical fiber for Facebook is in Africa for the first time, but the technology industry in Silicon Valley, it's just not the case. Alphabet has also been laying fiber in the United States, but the plan didn't go well, also laid off some employees, partly because of the cost of the project is said to be too high.

Facebook did not disclose the cost of laying fiber in Uganda project details.

Africa has a population of over 1.2 billion, but according to the guardian report, by the end of 2015, Africa only 226 million smart phones can connect to the Internet. By 2020, when African networking smart phone number will be increased twice.

Facebook的“小目标”：拟在非洲铺设500英里光纤 - Facebook - IT资讯

Facebook制定了一项新计划以便让更多的非洲人上网，它计划年内在非洲敷设近500英里的光纤。

Facebook周一宣布，公司计划在今年年底之前在乌干达敷设将近500英里的光纤。它相信这项基础设施可以让非洲上网人数增加300多万人。

但是Facebook不打算提供自己的无线网络，而是将与Airtel和BCS合作提供上网服务。它表示，这些光纤将为移动运营商的基站提供更多支持。它还说，公司愿意与其他网络供应商合作。

据知情人士透露，参与该项目的三家组织均为项目提供了财务支持，但是目前还不清楚它们分别提供了多少资金。

为了让更多非洲人能够上网，Facebook在过去的两年里采取了一系列举措，敷设光纤只是其中的一项而已。Facebook的目标是让全世界的所有人都能使用它的社交网络，但是现在还无法实现，因为有很大一部分人根本无法接入互联网。

Facebook首席执行官扎克伯格（Mark Zuckerberg）一直在努力改变这种状况，不管是敷设基础设施还是公司采取的其他举措，都是为了降低无线数据服务的成本。

例如，Facebook试图在印度为部分用户提供免费的上网服务，但是由于涉及网络中立性的问题而被印度监管机构否决，免费上网服务最终被封杀。

Facebook从2015年开始研制太阳能动力的无人机，希望利用无人机从高空为边远地区的人提供上网服务。它在去年6月完成了这种无人机的首次试飞，但是无人机在着陆时炸毁。但是据我们所知，利用无人机提供上网服务的计划仍是Facebook的长远计划之一。

此次在非洲敷设光纤对于Facebook来说是第一次，但是对硅谷技术行业来说就不是这样了。Alphabet也一直在美国敷设光纤，但是它的计划也进展不顺，还裁掉了不少员工，据说部分原因是该项目的成本太高。

Facebook没有透露乌干达光纤敷设项目的成本细节。

非洲拥有超过12亿人口，但是据卫报报道，截至2015年底，非洲只有2.26亿部智能手机能上网。预计到2020年的时候，非洲的连网智能手机数量将增加两倍。