Facebook: “Satellite important for our connectivity”
September 10, 2021
By Chris Forrester
Brian Barritt, Organisation leader for Connectivity at facebook, speaking on a panel at the Washington Satellite 2021 show admitted that there was no ‘one size fits all’ solution for connectivity; but satellite was important to Facebook.
Barritt said Facebook’s problem was related to population density and how those populations and communities were spread out.
While accepting the importance of 4G connectivity he said the technology was still too slow and that satellite was needed to reach rural areas.
He added that further collaboration between Facebook and the satellite sector was going to happen, and that partnerships would help with the satellite value chain.
“You have challenges of cost of terminals, cost of equipment etc. We need to have mechanisms to monetise these investments,” he said. “Openness is key. We need to learn the lessons of the mobile telecoms industry and bring about more interoperability.”