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"content": " \n\r\n\t\t\t \n\n\n\n\n\r\n\t\t\tby Jonathan Shieber \nMarch 13, 2015 \r\n\t\t\tfrom \nTechCrunch Website\n\n\nSpanish version\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\r\n\t\t\t \n\r\n\t\t\t \n\r\n\t\t\t \n\nThe space race to launch satellites \r\n\t\t\tproviding internet coverage to the roughly 4 billion people living \r\n\t\t\tin unconnected or nominally connected communities around the world \r\n\t\t\tis no longer just the purview of billionaire moguls and the world's \r\n\t\t\tbiggest Internet companies.\n\r\n\t\t\t \n\n\n\nOuternet, a small, \r\n\t\t\tindependently-funded media company with a unique vision for \r\n\t\t\tdistributing Internet content\r\n\t\t\t\nlike a radio broadcast, is partnering with the\r\n\t\t\t\nUK Space Agency, and Scottish satellite equipment manufacturer,\r\n\t\t\t\nClyde Space, \r\n\t\t\ton a cost-sharing project for manufacturing \"cubesats.\"\n\r\n\t\t\t \n\nThe information broadcaster Outernet will \r\n\t\t\tlaunch their three new nano-satellites at the beginning of 2016, says \r\n\t\t\tOuternet's chief operating officer, Thane Richard. \n\r\n\t\t\t \n\nThrough the \r\n\t\t\tarrangement, Outernet gets the satellites, and the UK Space Agency \r\n\t\t\tand Clyde Space get an opportunity to develop more cost-effective \r\n\t\t\tways of building cubesats.\n\n\"Our focus is on information delivery \r\n\t\t\tand whatever the cheapest, most efficient way of doing that is,\" \r\n\t\t\tRichard says. \n\nThe company currently leases bandwidth over the \r\n\t\t\t\nKU band to distribute its\r\n\t\t\t\ncurated content.\n\r\n\t\t\t \n\nWith the launch of the satellites next \r\n\t\t\tyear, the company will be able to broadcast on different frequencies \r\n\t\t\tfrom cubesats in low earth orbits. \n\r\n\t\t\t \n\nThat means lower costs for Outernet's target markets, which are already at the bottom of the \r\n\t\t\teconomic food chain, since \r\n\t\t\t\nOuternet can use more commodity parts to \r\n\t\t\tmake its receivers.\n\r\n\t\t\t \n\r\n\t\t\t \n\nOuternet is the modern version \r\n\t\t\t\t\tof shortwave radio. \n\nAs the world moves towards a global \r\n\t\t\t\t\tknowledge-driven economy, \n\nmore than 3 billion people \r\n\t\t\t\t\n\nare \r\n\t\t\t\t\texcluded by cost, geography or jurisdiction. \n\n\nSyed Karim\n \n \n\nLaunched in late January 2014 as the \r\n\t\t\t\nfirst project incubated by the Media Development Investment Fund \r\n\t\t\t(MDIF), Outernet \r\n\t\t\tenvisions a different kind of access to information than the \r\n\t\t\tubiquitous internet connectivity Facebook and Google are working \r\n\t\t\ttowards with \nInternet.org and \r\n\t\t\t\nProject Loon.\n\n\"Outernet is the modern version of \r\n\t\t\tshortwave radio,\" said founder Syed Karim at the time of the \r\n\t\t\tcompany's launch. \n \n\n\"As the world moves towards a global \r\n\t\t\tknowledge-driven economy, more than 3 billion people are excluded by \r\n\t\t\tcost, geography or jurisdiction. Outernet will increase \r\n\t\t\t\topportunities for everyone to access digital news and \r\n\t\t\t\tinformation, allowing greater access to opportunity and \r\n\t\t\t\teducation than anything that currently exists.\"\n\nThe company has financed its growth \r\n\t\t\tprimarily through the \n\nMDIF and an \r\n\t\t\t\nIndiegogo campaign, which has \r\n\t\t\traised over $500,000, basically as sales for the company's\r\n\t\t\t\nfirst product - a receiver \r\n\t\t\tcalled 'the Lantern.'\n \n \n \n\n\n\n \n \n \n\nNamed for its goal to shine the light of \r\n\t\t\tknowledge in the dark, unconnected parts of the world, the Lantern \r\n\t\t\tis a $169 device that continuously receives radio waves broadcast \r\n\t\t\tfrom Outernet's leased network of satellites. \n\n \n\nThe receiver converts those signals into \r\n\t\t\tdigital files, and broadcasts can range from websites, to ebooks, to \r\n\t\t\tarticles, videos and music. \n \n\nThose digital files are then stored on \r\n\t\t\tLantern's internal drive and can be accessed with any WiFi enabled \r\n\t\t\tdevice that connects to the gadget's Wi-Fi hotspot.\n\n\"Our goal is to have a receiver that \r\n\t\t\t\tis less than $20 and gets a gigabit per day,\" said Richard.\n\nOuternet's content is curated and \r\n\t\t\tfiltered by a series of editors, but anyone, anywhere in the world \r\n\t\t\tcan request that certain information be distributed by the service.\r\n\t\t\t\n \n\nSo far, the company has been \r\n\t\t\tbroadcasting in North America and Europe, the Middle East, and \r\n\t\t\tNorthern and Sub-Saharan Africa, with the North American and EMEA \r\n\t\t\tstream going live in August 2014, while Sub-Saharan Africa began \r\n\t\t\treceiving content in December.\n \n\nAsian content distribution will happen \r\n\t\t\twithin the next three months, according to Richard. \n\n\"The goal is to have global coverage \r\n\t\t\t\tof 10 gigs per day by the end of the year, and we're on track to \r\n\t\t\t\thit that goal,\" he says.\n \n \n \n\nThe Loon, The \r\n\t\t\tNet, and The Next Wave Radio \n \n\nOuternet isn't the first company \r\n\t\t\ttackling connectivity to find a willing partner in Europe. \n\n \n\nFor all of its privacy woes on the \r\n\t\t\tcontinent, Google managed to snag the Centre National d'Etudes \r\n\t\t\tSpatiales (CNES), as a collaborator on its Project Loon.\n \n\nCNES has long been involved in \r\n\t\t\tupper-atmospheric balloon launches, and was encouraged by the progress that Google had \r\n\t\t\tshown in its initial deployments in rural New Zealand.\n \n\nIndeed, Google's Loon project is now\r\n\t\t\t\nalmost ready for prime time. \n \n\nThe company's vision to connect everyone \r\n\t\t\tto the Internet using an armada of upper atmospheric balloons \r\n\t\t\tharnessed with routers that can provide internet coverage\n\n\n \r\n\t\t\tfor an area the size of Rhode Island is set to be a really big \r\n\t\t\tbusiness. \n \n\nWhether it's hubris or prescience, \r\n\t\t\texecutives within the company say that the Loon project could be \r\n\t\t\tworth billions.\n \n\nHere's what project leader Mike \r\n\t\t\tCassidy told The Verge's Ben Popper:\n\n\"Think about it - with 4.5 billion \r\n\t\t\t\tpeople without internet access, take 5 percent; you're talking \r\n\t\t\t\t250 million people,\" he says. \n \n\nIf those people pay just a small \r\n\t\t\t\tportion of their monthly income, say $5 a piece, \"you're going \r\n\t\t\t\tto be in a billion dollars a month in revenue, tens of billions \r\n\t\t\t\ta year in revenue. So it's good business, too.\"\n\nThe strides that Google is making with \r\n\t\t\tLoon to pull away from the connectivity pack are being matched by \r\n\t\t\tFacebook's own efforts around Internet.org.\n \n\nIn Barcelona last week for the Mobile \r\n\t\t\tWorld Congress trade show, Mark Zuckerberg spoke of his own vision \r\n\t\t\tfor connectivity.\n \n\nUnlike the Loon hardware, which is \r\n\t\t\tfocused on connectivity, Zuckerberg and Facebook are\r\n\t\t\t\nemphasizing the roles that carriers have to play in promoting \r\n\t\t\tand increasing access.\n \n\nAs our own Josh Constine\n\nwrote about Zuckerberg's talk:\n\nHe noted \"90% of people in the world \r\n\t\t\t\talready live in range of a network. While it's kind of sexy to \r\n\t\t\t\ttalk about satellites [lasers, and other high-tech ways to \r\n\t\t\t\tdistribute an Internet connection], the real work happens here\", \r\n\t\t\t\treferring to Mobile World Congress itself.\n\nWhat he meant was that the barriers \r\n\t\t\t\tto access are really the cost of data plans and lack of \r\n\t\t\t\teducation about why the Internet is important. \n \n\nZuckerberg said \r\n\t\t\t\tit's Internet.org's mobile operator partners that are making the \r\n\t\t\t\treal investments and bets on behalf of access.\n \n\nSo if Google has a vision of floating \r\n\t\t\tclusters of connectivity, and Facebook is working with carriers to \r\n\t\t\tdrive down costs and offer no-cost data for selected curated sites, \r\n\t\t\twhat's left for Outernet?\n \n\nGiven its roots as a media company \r\n\t\t\tfirst, Outernet is concerned with the distribution \r\n\t\t\tand access to content, rather than connectivity (although that's \r\n\t\t\tpart of the company's plans as well). \n\r\n\t\t\t \n\nThe service is more akin to \r\n\t\t\tthe next wave of radio, rather than the interactivity of an online \r\n\t\t\tbrowsing experience, except it distributes much more than just \r\n\t\t\tsound.\n \n\nIn some instances, Richard says, that \r\n\t\t\tpassivity can be a virtue. In countries where access to certain \r\n\t\t\tinformation is restricted and authoritarian regimes dominate, having \r\n\t\t\ta service that provides access to useful information but doesn't \r\n\t\t\ttrack who is accessing the information, what information they're \r\n\t\t\tconsuming, and where they're consuming it can be a virtue.\n \n \n \n \n\nBut Is The \r\n\t\t\tContent Any Good?\n \n\nBecause the service is a hodgepodge of \r\n\t\t\tinformation that's been selected from the requests of users, and curated by the company itself, Outernet's service can be \r\n\t\t\ttransmitting data running the gamut from malarkey to must-read, \r\n\t\t\tdepending on who's doing the voting.\n \n\nThat and the fact that right now the \r\n\t\t\tlingua franca for much of what Outernet distributes is English, \r\n\t\t\tmeans that there's only so much impact the data can have in a \r\n\t\t\tdeveloping economy, where not everyone is fluent.\n \n\n\"We're making space and \r\n\t\t\t\t\tcommunication more democratic
the more players you have the \r\n\t\t\t\t\tbetter the market,\" says Richard. \n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t \n\n\"You can't stop the \r\n\t\t\t\t\tsignal
It's basic and simple and i think because of that, \r\n\t\t\t\t\tit's essential.\"\n\r\n\t\t\t \n\n\n\nReturn to The End of The Internet... As We \r\n\t\t\tKnow It?\n \n " |
