The Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, yesterday announced the launch of Opencellular which he described as a critical aspect of the company’s efforts at connecting the world.
OpenCellular is an open source wireless access platform to bring connectivity to remote areas of the world. According to him, more than 4 billion people still don’t have basic internet access, and one of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to reach remote areas existing infrastructure doesn’t cover.
“We designed OpenCellular as an open system so anyone — from telecom operators to researchers to entrepreneurs — can build and operate wireless networks in remote places. It’s about the size of a shoe box and can support up to 1,500 people from as far as 10 kilometers away,” Zuckerberg said.
Along with Facebook’s solar-powered aircraft Aquila and high-bandwidth laser beams, OpenCellular is described by the founder of Facebook as the next step on the journey to provide better, more affordable connectivity to bring the world closer together.
