Facebook seeks more satellite partnerships
June 19, 2019
By Chris Forrester
Facebook already has tangible partnership and trading relationships with Hughes Network Systems, Viasat and Hispasat. It also tried to strike a deal with Spacecom, and might still sign Eutelsat to its roster of bandwidth suppliers. But it wants more.
Wesley Wong, head of connectivity, partnership & business development at Facebook, and reported by Space Intel Report from the Satellite Industry Forum, says the company is looking for other satellite partnerships in other regions covered by satellite.
“The model we have been exploring with these companies is satellite-enabled community Wi-Fi hotspots. And we’re seeing a lot of great traction form these companies getting out there. In the next 6-12 months, we’d like to see more organisations out here willing to take that step outside their comfort zone of B2B, to B2B2C. That’s what we’re looking for,” quoted Space Intel Report.
He said that some satellite operators are doing “great things” and that Facebook didn’t want to be a competitor or even a customer. He said that Facebook isn’t in the market to buy a bunch of capacity, but was in the market to work with satellite operators.