September 10th, 2008
O3B satellites could bring real net access to rest of world
When I was in Uganda, pulling together the Uganda Digital Bookmobile, a spin-off of the Internet Archive Bookmobile, lack of Internet access (and electricity) was a huge issue.
Brewster Kahle’s original incarnation boasted a satellite dish on the roof for access to online books on the go. In Uganda, that was useless. We loaded books onto hard drives and drove out to the villages. Many other aspects of the bookmobile concept could have been enabled if there were any meaningful net access on the continent.
Med staff could drive a bookmobile around, learn about villagers’ medical complaints and access information for the village. Easy to understand pamphlets could be downloaded and printed in the field. In the refugee camps, books and learning materials could be downloaded, customized and printed right there.
None of that was happening without net. So O3B Networks’ deployment of 16 sats to deliver Internet access to the developing world is welcome news indeed.
O3b’s service should be activated by late 2010 and provide speeds of up to 10G bps (bits per second) to other areas including Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. O3b plans to launch 16 MEO satellites, which can send data anywhere between a 45-degree angle north to a 45-degree angle south of their orbits. The lifespan of a MEO is about 10 years to 15 years.
Among the investors and supporters are HSBC Principal Investments, a private equity provider; Liberty Global, an operator that provides phone and Internet access in 15 countries; and Google, which has supported other initiatives to broaden access to the Internet.
