Internet missionary

Internet penetration in many developed countries is approaching 100 percent. This means that the growth in the number of users of Internet services will soon slow down significantly. The only source of new users comes from third world countries, where the Internet is not available for technical and financial reasons. Internet giants, primarily Facebook, have decided not to wait until the technologies in these countries develop themselves to the western level.

Internet as a gift from Facebook

In 2013, Mark Zuckerberg announced a new unusual Facebook project - Internet.org. As part of this project, the company decided to provide free access to the most useful and popular sites in the third world countries.
Zuckerberg argues that connecting to the Internet is one of the most important human rights. But at the same time, of the seven billion people on Earth, less than three have access to the network. The problem is most often not in the absence of communication, but in its too high cost, since 85 percent of the world's inhabitants live in regions where there is a network.
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Therefore, Facebook, in partnership with mobile operators, has launched Internet.org applications in developing countries with free access to 10-20 Internet services. These include UN online projects on public health and community protection, Wikipedia, Google search, weather forecasting services, media sites, and Facebook and Facebook Messenger communication services.
Facebook has already launched Internet.org in Colombia, India and four African countries: Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi. In less than a year, more than a billion people started using the application.

Internet mission

The problems began when the project was launched in six states of the most developed of these countries - India. The application includes, among others, the websites of Times Group, India Today, NDTV, IBNLive, NewsHunt and BBC. But then the Times Group said that Internet.org violates the principle of network neutrality *, as it provides free access to selective sites.

* Network neutrality is the principle that telecommunications service providers do not give preference to one service over another.

However, the Times Group does not want to leave the project alone, as it will give advantages to its competitors who will remain in it. Therefore, the media holding offers to leave all the media at the same time.

Zuckerberg claims that Internet.org is combined with the principle of network neutrality, as it helps people in developing countries to get at least some opportunities for communication and information sharing. It is worth noting that Facebook has never positioned the project as a volunteer and initially stated that the project’s goal is to attract more users by increasing the coverage of the Internet in developing countries. But at the same time, Zuckerberg declares that he does not plan to make money on this project, since users of third world countries are unlikely to make a profit for the company.

The Facebook project is reminiscent of religious missions. When all Western countries had already decided on faith, the priests went to introduce their movements in the third world countries. Similarly, Facebook has reached the ceiling of users in developed countries and is now forced to provide Internet at its own expense in the rest of the world in order to continue to grow.

Drones fight

The application with free access to the most important sites in the opinion of Facebook is not the only tool by which the social network wants to get new users. The company also plans together with its partners on the project Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung to create cheap smartphones, develop simplified versions of applications and new compression and data caching formats, as well as introduce cheaper mobile communication tariffs.

The social network has more futuristic projects - the launch of UAVs that will deliver wireless Internet to remote areas of the planet so that their residents can use the Internet. To this end, the company in 2014 bought the British aerospace company Ascenta.

The same startup tried to acquire Google, but Zuckerberg beat him, and then the company bought another developer of drones - Titan Aerospace. Google is also going to supply the Internet to remote areas of the Earth, and not only with the help of Titan Aerospace drones. Previously, the company tested helium-filled balloons designed for the same purpose in New Zealand and Australia. All these developments are conducted by Google’s science lab as part of the Loon project. Internet balloons fly at an altitude of 20 kilometers above sea level.

This is not Google’s first Internet access distribution project. In 2010, the company began to provide Internet and television provider services under the brand name Google Fiber. The Internet giant held broadband access in the US regions lagging behind in terms of Internet penetration. Now Google is planning to launch its own virtual mobile operator, which will not have roaming. The media reported that the company is already in talks with the corporation Hutchison Whampoa, the owner of mobile operators that operate in many countries in Asia and Europe.

Founder of SpaceX space corporation and electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors Elon Musk is also planning to spread Internet access in the world. At the end of 2014, the media reported that he was going to launch 700 telecommunications satellites. So far, the Mask project, as well as the Facebook and Google programs for launching drones, are only at the initial stage of development, but companies are not going to stop in the battle for new users.