American tech giant Google has acquired an American drone maker Titan Aerospace for an undisclosed sum as it seeks to bring internet connectivity to the remotest parts of the world, just weeks after Facebook announced it had acquired UK-based Ascenta at $20 million for a similar project.
The drone-making startup whose solar-powered drones can fly at a reported altitude of 65,000 and maintain same for 3 years is said to be seen by Google as integral to its balloon-based remote Internet delivery system, Project Loon.
According to Titan Aerospace, it expects “initial commercial operations” by 2015.
“It’s still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation,” said Google in a statement.
Facebook is making similar efforts to ensure more of the world’s population can access cheap and effective internet. “Our research has shown that approximately 80-90 percent of the world’s population lives today in areas already covered by 2G or 3G networks,” says Facebook on internet.org, a website launched primarily as a global effort to make affordable basic internet services available to everyone in the world.
The company noted that making the internet accessible to more people is a way of building the knowledge economy, which it said was key to solving many of the world’s socio-economic challenges, and a way of creating new growth and opportunities for people in every country.
The internet is already an important driver of economic growth in many developing countries, global professional services firm, Deloitte recently found in a study, making the efforts by Google and Facebook to increase access to the internet projects the world will be looking forward to.
Both tech giants are competing for the use of innovative technology, like high-altitude balloons and flying robots, to deliver internet to billions of users across the world.
The success of these projects could create 140 million new jobs, changing the embarrassing levels of unemployment in several countries. “Connectivity isn’t an end in itself, but it’s a powerful tool for change,” Facebook says.
A study by McKinsey forcasts a $300 billion iGDP (contribution of internet to GDP) for Africa by 2025 if internet penetration increases to a considerable extent on the continent.
Google’s new acquisition is expected to help more Africans have access to the internet as they explore the option of internet connectivity from drones.
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