Facebook OpenCellular blueprint ready for remote areas' connectivity
Connectivity for remote areas now possible
Facebook has just launched OpenCellular, a platform that will allow hard-to-reach rural communities to have basic connectivity.
According to Facebook Code, the company’s new platform provides the foundation needed for cellular access. It also comes with open-source software that allows potential partners to update and tweak the service based on the needs of the community.
Facebook will provide the communities with the instructions, along with the building materials needed to construct the system that is easy to run and weather-proof, capable of withstanding severe temperatures and high winds.
Only one person is needed to complete the installation of OpenCellular and it can be hung from a post few feet high or even at the top of a tree.
Facebook, though, won’t be setting up the platform. Telecom operators, software developers, researchers, and entrepreneurs will likely construct the devices.
Once done, technicians can monitor and operate the device remotely.
CNET reports The move is Facebook’s latest attempt in its goal of worldwide access and connect the remaining four billion people without internet access and the 10 percent who doesn’t have cellular access.
Facebook Engineer Kashif Ali said one of the main reasons cellular networks expansion have stalled is due to the ecosystem being “constrained.”
“Traditional cellular infrastructure can be very expensive, making it difficult for operators to deploy it everywhere and for smaller organizations or individuals to solve hyperlocal connectivity challenges,” he said.
This is not the first time Facebook has attempted to bring wireless connectivity to rural areas. The social-networking company unveiled Aries, a network that’s used to replace slower services in lower-income, provincial areas, and Terragraph, which is dedicated to increasing internet speed in densely-populated areas, in April.
Facebook will be looking to integrate Aries to provide support for OpenCellular.
OpenCellular will be beta tested this year and Facebook is hoping to make the device affordable to developing countries.