It's clear that the big internet companies have a lot of investment in building a worldwide network. Google and Facebook both announced their endeavors to bring internet access to the world.
Google is currently in the process of launching Project Loon, an attempt to establish a balloon satellite-based network that would make the internet available in otherwise data-barren regions. Facebook announced its Internet.org project to bring connections to people across the world. While Internet.org wasn't expected to expand so soon, it looks like Facebook has big plans for the non-profit in the near future.
Internet.org VP Chris Evans met with a few members of the press to announce the plans to bring free internet access to 100 countries by the end of 2015, Mashable reports.
"The ambitious goal this year is to roll it out to 100 [countries]....we want this to spread to additional countries, operator groups and... see more people coming online, buying data and voice and SMS bundles. The number is indicative of our ambitious goal." Evans says the goal is "to bring connectivity to the entire world."
What Internet.org does to establish free internet in a country is work with local data providers to offer free internet access to people who would otherwise have none. The goal isn't to turn them into customers, but to introduce these groups to certain resources, such as job sites, Facebook or Wikipedia. This way, users can see what they're missing and upgrade their speeds if necessary.
Since its inception in 2013, Internet.org has established free internet in Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Colombia and India.
This isn't Facebook's only endeavor, though. During his appearance at Mobile World Congress, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that Facebook was trying to develop "drones, lasers and satellites" that will help bring developing parts of the world online.
