Facebook plans to unleash an army of drones to connect the world
It's a bird… It's a plane… It's that guy from The Social Network!
Facebook is said to be in talks to snap up drone manufacturer Titan Aerospace, its first significant play in the Internet.org initiative.
Titan Aerospace creates unmanned solar-powered drones capable of flying at 65,000 feet for five years without needing to land, which would offer a cheaper alternative to orbital satellites.
Facebook is rumoured to be in negotiations with Titan right now in the hope of using its drones to beam internet connectivity to areas of the world that currently lack access.
Zuck 5, standing by
According to TechCrunch, which learned of the deal, Facebook's first step will be to have 11,000 drones built with Africa the first country on the list of targets.
According to an anonymous source, the deal is going down for $60 million although nothing has been verified as of yet.
Internet.org is a coalition movement including Facebook, Qualcomm, Samsung, Nokia and others, which plans to bring internet to the 5 billion people of the world who still don't have means of access.
Google, meanwhile, has a similar initiative of its own called Project Loon, which uses balloons instead of satellites or drones.
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Titan is not currently responding to requests for clarification, but we'll let you know as soon as we get any sort of official confirmation.
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Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.
Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.