Monday, February 8, 2010
Bridging the digital divide:Global, ubiquitous Internet by end of 2010
11:22 PM | 
Posted by
theopennewsroom |
In less than 12 months, the much vaunted O3B Networks will start offering high speed satellite Internet to telecommunications operators and ISPs in emerging and developing markets in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Several telecoms companies have already expressed confidence in the start-up network company and have signed multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts.
“Bandwidth will get cheaper, faster and easier for most of the world. O3B Networks will enable emerging markets operators and Internet service providers to make the Internet a truly global and ubiquitous experience,” proclaims O3BNetworks
on their website.
Founded by Greg Wyler in 2008, O3b which stands for 'other three billion', aims to make the Internet accessible and affordable for billions of people in emerging and developing markets in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East..O3b Networks will accomplish this by building a global Internet backbone which connects the networks in these countries.This global Internet backbone infrastructure will be the world’s first ultra-low-latency, fiber-quality, optic-fibre speed, satellite-based network.
With investment and operational support principally from Google Inc., Liberty Global, Inc. and HSBC Principal Investments, the O3b Networks system will provide telecommunications companies (telcos) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with a low-cost, high-speed alternative to connect their 3G, WiMAX and fixed-line networks to the rest of the world. This will allow billions of consumers and businesses in more than 150 countries to benefit from high-speed Internet connectivity for educational, medical and commercial applications.
O3b Networks founder Greg Wyler worked in Rwanda from 2004 to 2006, where he put together a modern Internet infrastructure for the African country, before heading back to the United States. O3b Networks will initially launch eight satellites that will be placed in medium earth orbit (8,000 kilometers from the earth), which is some four times closer to the planet than geostationary satellites at over 35,000 kilometers, and accounts for the low latency.
“This innovative satellite system will cover approximately 70 percent of the world’s population with fiber quality Internet connectivity at attractive terms and conditions,” says the company.
One of the investors in the Channel Islands based O3B Networks is SES, the renowned satellite operator of 99 percent of the world’s population via a fleet of over 40 satellites.
O3b Networks backbone infrastructure is likely to boost capacity and increase the numbers of Internet users on the African continent which stands at 6.8% of the 991 million people. In Asia, 19.4% of the 3.8 billion people are Internet users, and 74.2 % of North Americans use the Internet.
COMING NEXT-the benefits and effects of ubiquitous broadband on the media in Africa
“Bandwidth will get cheaper, faster and easier for most of the world. O3B Networks will enable emerging markets operators and Internet service providers to make the Internet a truly global and ubiquitous experience,” proclaims O3BNetworks
on their website.
Founded by Greg Wyler in 2008, O3b which stands for 'other three billion', aims to make the Internet accessible and affordable for billions of people in emerging and developing markets in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East..O3b Networks will accomplish this by building a global Internet backbone which connects the networks in these countries.This global Internet backbone infrastructure will be the world’s first ultra-low-latency, fiber-quality, optic-fibre speed, satellite-based network.
With investment and operational support principally from Google Inc., Liberty Global, Inc. and HSBC Principal Investments, the O3b Networks system will provide telecommunications companies (telcos) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with a low-cost, high-speed alternative to connect their 3G, WiMAX and fixed-line networks to the rest of the world. This will allow billions of consumers and businesses in more than 150 countries to benefit from high-speed Internet connectivity for educational, medical and commercial applications.
O3b Networks founder Greg Wyler worked in Rwanda from 2004 to 2006, where he put together a modern Internet infrastructure for the African country, before heading back to the United States. O3b Networks will initially launch eight satellites that will be placed in medium earth orbit (8,000 kilometers from the earth), which is some four times closer to the planet than geostationary satellites at over 35,000 kilometers, and accounts for the low latency.
“This innovative satellite system will cover approximately 70 percent of the world’s population with fiber quality Internet connectivity at attractive terms and conditions,” says the company.
One of the investors in the Channel Islands based O3B Networks is SES, the renowned satellite operator of 99 percent of the world’s population via a fleet of over 40 satellites.
O3b Networks backbone infrastructure is likely to boost capacity and increase the numbers of Internet users on the African continent which stands at 6.8% of the 991 million people. In Asia, 19.4% of the 3.8 billion people are Internet users, and 74.2 % of North Americans use the Internet.
COMING NEXT-the benefits and effects of ubiquitous broadband on the media in Africa
